Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Nov 13: Over a bloody land dispute, two young brothers including an Army jawan were murdered by their cousins at Saruti village near Ari in tehsil Mendhar of district Poonch today.
The deceased have been identified as Havaldar Ayaz Ahmed posted in 17 JAKLI in Poonch and his brother Zaffar Iqbal, sons of Mushtaq Ahmed, residents of Saruti village in Ari. While Havaldar Ayaz, who was airlifted with serious head injuries from Mendhar to Udhampur Command hospital succumbed on the way whereas, Zaffar Iqbal also died between Mendhar and Bhimber Gali while being shifted to GMC hospital Jammu.
A police spokesman said that clash took place at around11 am at Saruti village. Both brothers Mushtaq Ahmed and his younger brother, Mohd Razak had an old dispute over a piece of land at the village. The local Panchayat had also settled their dispute by dividing their land between two brothers few months back. Both had young sons who too, used to quarrel over this issue.
Razak’s son, Adnan Ahmed who is also in Army and is posted in 17 JAKLI at Gulpur (Poonch) had come to home on leave. His cousin Havaldar Ayaz Ahmed was already at home on leave. Mushtaq had started construction of some shops on the disputed piece of land on the road side. His brother, Mushtaq and sons objected to it. It was followed by verbal and then bloody clash between the members of both the families. Both sides took out sharp edged weapons including axes, daggars, lathis etc and freely exchanged them. They also pelted stones at each other.
Havaldar Ayaz and young Zaffar sustained serious head injuries and were rushed to local hospital. SDPO Mendhar SP Amit Bhasin and SHO Bishnesh Kumar took the cognizance and contacted local RR unit for providing Army chopper to shift Havaldar to Army Hospital, Udhampur. Later, the Army authorities agreed to lift injured Havaldar from BG Helipad. A unit doctor was also escorted with the serious Army personnel but he succumbed to injuries on way to Udhampur. His body was being brought back to Mendhar by road. His brother, Zaffar also succumbed to injuries while being shifted to GMC Jammu from Mendhar hospital.
Tension gripped the village after the news of death of both the brothers reached. The police sensing counter attack from the deceased family, deployed additional force at the village. Deceased’s uncle Mohammad Razak and his wife were arrested while their five sons were absconding. The police has registered murder case under FIR No. 65/2013 against Razak and his sons including Rifleman Adnan of 17 JAKLI (D-Coy). Police was conducting series of raids to nab the accused persons. Some weapons of offence were also seized.
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