Rapist released on parole, another on run
Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Apr 13: A Special Police Officer (SPO) was martyred and another seriously injured when they were attacked in terror attack during patrolling at village Tander under the jurisdiction of Dachhan police station in Kishtwar district. The attackers fled with weapons of the SPOs.
Official sources told the Excelsior that the SPOs were conducting regular patrol duty in upper reaches of village Tander in mountainous Dachhan area of Kishtwar this morning when they were intercepted by two locals and attacked with sharp-edged weapons. By the time the SPOs could react, they were badly injured after being inflicted multiple bounds by the two attackers.
Accused fled from the spot taking with them the weapons of the SPOs, they said.
Police identified the martyr SPO as Khursheed Iqbal and injured as Vishal Singh. Injured SPO has been airlifted to Jammu and admitted in the Government Medical College (GMC).
Sources said the militants had used axe to attack the SPOs and snatch their weapons. A case against them has been registered.
Accused were identified as Basharat Hussain son of Ghulam Qadir Gainoo and Ashiq Hussain son of Bashir Ahmed, both residents of Tander, Dachhan. Police said Ashiq Hussain was involved in kidnapping and rape case in FIR No. 6/2018 under Sections 363 and 376 RPC of Dachhan police station and had been released from the District Jail Kishtwar 20 days back on parole in view of spread of Coronavirus pandemic.
The accused seemed to have joined the militancy though they had no past record of their involvement in terror activities.
According to sources, snatching of weapons of the SPOs was clear indication that it was a terror act and that both the accused had joined militancy.
Though there was no official word, the accused seemed to have been lured by the Hizbul Mujahideen commander and longest surviving militant Jehangir Saroori to join the militancy.
Inspector General of Police (IGP), Jammu Zone Mukesh Singh, who was taking stock of COVID-19 containment efforts in Poonch flew to Dachhan immediately after getting report of the incident.
Sources said a massive search operation has been launched by Army, Special Operations Group (SOG) and police to nab the militants responsible for the killing and snatching of weapons.
Number of militancy incidents have been reported in Kishtwar district since November 1, 2018 when prominent BJP leader Anil Parihar and his brother Ajit Parihar were martyred by the militants, which was followed by the martyrdom of top RSS functionary Chanderkant Sharma and his PSO Rajinder Singh and couple of incidents of snatching of weapons from the Personal Security Officers (PSOs) of the then District Magistrate Kishtwar and a People’s Democratic Party (PDP) leader.
However, three militants of Kishtwar were killed at Batote in Ramban district while number of others have been arrested.
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