Family members of Inayat Ahmad, who was killed with a top Jaish commander in Naira village of Pulwama district early on Sunday, contested the police claim that he was a ‘hybrid militant’ and said he was innocent with no links to militancy.Meanwhile, a video started to do rounds on social media, quoting purportedly his sister, saying three militants came to their house at 10pm on Thursday and stayed out there. In the video, she says that Inayat told his sister that he will not come out and would like to die with other militants when the civilians were being evacuated by the security forces. News 18 could not get a response from the family or relatives about the authenticity of the video and whether the individual who speaks in the video is related to Inayat. The viral video has not been reflected in the official police statements so far even though many police handles on Twitter have shared it. The story will be updated when News18 gets a family response on the video.The family drove from Niara to Police Control Room in Srinagar to seek his body for burial vouching for his Inayat’s innocence.“He was only 17. You ask anyone in the village and they will tell you he was innocent and going about his work,” his family told reporters outside the PCR in Srinagar. They were also demanding the release of Inayat’s elder brother, Naveed Ahmad, who they alleged was picked up by police after the operation ended in Niara village early Sunday morning.Inspector General of Police, Kashmir Range, Vijay Kumar, had earlier told reporters that Inayat was a hybrid militant and got killed when he refused to come out of the target house where they had been holed up. “His family was called to the spot to persuade him to come out but he chose not to. The holed up militants even fired on troops and in retaliation got killed after a long encounter,” Kumar said.Elaborating, he said a hybrid militant is not listed in police record but works in disguise and that his ‘subversive’ activities get known through technical surveillance. “We keep looking at the data generated on their laptops and phones and that is how we get to establish who is a hybrid militant,” he said. “This year, the police is focussing on eliminating foreign terrorists and going after the hybrid militants,” he said.Police had run into a massive controversy late last year when it claimed to have eliminated two militants, a hybrid militant and an owner of building they were killed in at Srinagar’s Hyderpora locality. Following family protests and claims that at least three of four killed men were innocent, police returned the bodies of two Srinagar residents, while the family of a third person from Jammu’s Ramban district has moved court to seek his body.In a similar demand, relatives of Inayat requested police to return his body so that family can give him a burial.“We want his body to be handed over. His elder brother too is in police custody and he should be released. Police had taken him along last night during the operation and later asked him to move to a safe place with other family members. But this morning, he was picked up again after the operation was over and since then he is in their custody,” they said.Relatives said Inayat’s family had gone to his uncle’s place at Trisal village where his grandmother had died a few days ago. “Only his two sisters (one is pregnant) were home, while other family members were in mourning at Trisal,” said a relative. “We fail to understand how he got killed,” he added.The relatives said they were shocked to hear in the morning that Inayat was killed as they had seen him at his maternal uncle’s home in the last few days. Police and army in a joint briefing said five militants linked to Jaish and Lashkar were killed in Pulwama and Budgam districts. A police handout identified them as Zahid Ahmad Wani alias Uzair, (a top commander) resident of Karimabad Pulwama; foreign terrorist Kafeel Bhari alias Chotu, a resident of Pakistan; Waheed Ahmad Reshi, a resident of Khadermoh Kakapora and Inayat Ahmad Mir resident of Naira Pulwama.Wani, as per police, was a categorised terrorist active since May 2017 and involved in several terror crime cases including attacks on security forces and civilian atrocities. He was also instrumental in motivating the youth to join terror folds and other criminal activities, police said, adding he was one of the masterminds behind various IED attacks.Kafeel Bhai, police said, was operating in Pulwama and Shopian belts and involved in a series of terror crime cases, while Waheed Ahmad was active since 2021. Inayat Ahmad had joined terror folds recently, police said.Incriminating material, arms and ammunition including 01 M4 rifle, 02 AK series rifles and 02 pistols were recovered from the site of encounter.Meanwhile, another militant, Bilal Ahmad Khan, resident of Chill Brass, Khansahab was killed in Charar-e Sharif in Budgam district. As per police records, he was a categorized terrorist and linked with LeT (TRF) and part of groups involved in several terror crime cases.Read all the Latest News, Breaking News and Coronavirus News here.