Excelsior Correspondent
POONCH, May 1: The police fired in air after irate residents of Dhar Galoon in Gursai area of Mendhar resorted to stone pelting on police causing damage to the vehicles of SDPO Mendhar and SHO when they were protesting with the dead body of a villager who was allegedly murdered last night.
The deceased’s body was recovered from a nullah near his house at Dhar Galoon this morning. He has been identified as Mohd Rafiq (50), son of Fakkar Din, resident of Dhar Galoon. His family members alleged that some armed people barged into their house last night and tried to lift one of his daughters. The women raised alarm and ran towards the house of their uncle in the nearby area. Mohd Rafiq grappled with the armed men. When the girls and their mother returned after some time along with uncle and other neighbours, Mohd Rafiq went missing.
They looked for him but in the morning he was found lying nearly unconscious from a nullah at some distance. His one leg was tied with a tree with the help of a rope and an empty bottle of pesticide was lying nearby. Some cough was also seen in his mouth. He was allegedly tortured but he was still alive.
The people informed Gursai police and SHO, PP Singh along with some cops reached there and after examining spot shifted the villager to local hospital. He was then referred to District Hospital Rajouri where he died. His postmortem was conducted in Rajouri and then the body was sent to Dhar Galoon.
At around 8 am in the morning, the people when came to know about the incident, blocked Jammu-Rajouri-Mendhar road at Dhar Galoon near Tower and started protest. They disrupted movement of traffic up to 11 am. However, with the intervention of SDPO and SHO, the road was got cleared. They were demanding arrest of the people allegedly involved in the murder of Rafiq, a very poor villager. But after the dead body reached Dhar Galoon at around 4.30 pm, the family members and relatives along with a strong mob of over 2000 villagers placed the body on the road and blocked the road. They held dharna and started protest.
The SDPO and SHO again rushed there but the villagers did not listen and continued protest. They were demanding immediate arrest of the people involved. They alleged that one Wasim Ahmed, son of Bar Hussain along with 2-3 youth entered their house and they murdered Mohd Rafiq. A large number of vehicles remained stranded on the road for over five hours. The police when tried to forcibly clear the road, the villagers resorted to pelting stone. The cops along with SHO ran for safety and the people also caused damage to the vehicles of SDPO Surinder Choudhary and SHO. The police fired 2-3 rounds in the air to quell the violent mob.
SSP Poonch, J S Johar when contacted said that a case under section 174 CrPC has been registered and inquest proceedings launched. He said, “We can not say it is murder at this stage. Let the investigations start. And if some thing came to light, the murder case can be made out.”
He said Rafiq was found lying unconscious in a nullah at some distance from his house in the morning. They should have rushed him to the hospital immediately. He said from the spot a bottle of poisonous stuff was also recovered.
“One person has also been detained in this connection. The things will be clear after staments of the family members of the deceased will be recorded,” the SSP added.
Follow our WhatsApp channel