Excelsior Correspondent
RAJOURI, Mar 3: The police resorted to mild lathi-charge after some villagers blocked Jammu- Poonch road near Alpha Gate at Rajouri and held strong protest against the district administration for its failure to trace the body of a youth who had drowned in the nearby river on Friday evening.
When the senior officers from the district Administration led by Additional DC Rajouri Matloob Khan, AC Revenue, Tehsildar and SHO were busy in tracing the body of the drowned youth at the river site today, some people from deceased’s native place, came out on the Jammu-Rajouri-Poonch highway and raised barricades. They disrupted the movement of traffic at around 3 pm and started shouting slogans against DC and SP Rajouri. A large number of vehicles were stranded on both sides on this highway.
Today on the second consecutive day, the Police and Army divers continued their search for the body of young Mohd Zakir of Muradpur in the river. The youth was drowned while taking bath in the river. He was returning after finishing construction work on slab of a house at nearby village. The administration had also engaged heavy machinery in today’s search work.
Despite this, some villagers moved to the road and started protest. The police party led by SHO Varinder Gupta moved towards the people agitating on the road and tried to pacify them. The agitating people refused to move back and alleged that police has failed to trace the dead body even after two days and it has delayed the action. Some more jawans were pressed into service and SP Rajouri also reached there after some time. As some miscreants in the crowed resorted to stoning, the cops then used force and resorted to mild lathi-charge to clear the road. SHO Rajouri was injured in stoning. The police managed to clear the road at around 4.30 pm. The traffic was then restored on this busy highway.
Meanwhile, the search operation in the river and also down-steam continued till this evening. But there was not trace of the body. The authorities are trying to divert the passage of river flow and make water channel so that thorough search could be conducted. The family members and relatives of the deceased were also there for the last two days.
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