Jodhpur: In the first ever Army open trial, the Siachen Glacier alleged fake killings case commenced today (May 27, 2004), with Col K D Singh, commanding officer of the Gorkha Battalion deposing that most of the encounters were real.

Singh pointed out that several strategic locations on the higher reaches of the 33 km long glacier, whose capture was recorded in video were "real encounters" and that enemy soldiers shown being killed were "indeed real".

In his inconclusive tendering of evidence, the commanding officer said the higher reaches of glacier witnessed regular exchange of fire, as Pakistani troops tried to dislodge Indian forces occupying the vantage heights.

"My battalion did an excellent job in the inhospitable terrain in defending border and it was wrong to charge that we 'faked' encounter killings," Singh said.

He told the court that there were six video cameras with the troops at the glacier. Two of the cameras belonged to army headquarters, two others belonged to the battalion and remaining two were of Army personnel.

Singh in today's deposition was yet to reach the narration of fake killings by one of his subordinate officers Major Surendra Singh.