Excelsior Correspondent
Srinagar, Sept 8:Police today suspended six cops including two Personal Security Officers (PSOs) of National Conference leader, Abdul Rashid Khanday, after militants snatched four rifles from security guards deployed at his residence in Kulgam district of South Kashmir last night.
DIG of Police South Kashmir, Nitish Kumar, told Excelsior that four security guards and two PSOs of the NC leader are being questioned about last night’s weapon snatching incident. Sources said son of NC leader, Sajjad Ahmad Khanday, has been detained and is also being questioned by police.
Police is investigating the case and sources said that one of the PSO of the NC leader was absent from the duty and another was there when militants barged into the house of NC leader. They said the two AK-47 rifles of two PSOs of Khanday were in another room when militants took away four rifles including two INSAS, one SLR and one .303 rifle from the guard room.
The DIG said that Hizbul Mujahideen is behind the weapon snatching from the NC leader’s house and the militants who are locals have been identified.
The NC leader while giving details of the incident said that last night five militants barged into his kitchen at around 10 p.m and threatened the inmates not to raise any hue and cry.
Khanday said his son Sajjad was taken along by the gun men and he was asked to accompany them to the guard room. He said that militants later decamped with four rifles from the security guards at gun point.
Sources said that soon after the incident, the cops informed the Station House Officer of Police Station Damhal Hanjipora about the incident. The SHO reportedly asked the cops to report to the Police Station immediately. However, terrified cops didn’t move out of the location and later at around 2 a.m a patrol party of Army along with a police party headed by the SHO reached the spot and 5 cops and son of the NC leader were taken along to Police Station for questioning. Another PSO of Khanday reported at the Police Station in the morning. Police also seized the AK-47 rifles of the two PSOs of the NC leader.
Sources said that security agencies have an intercept that a Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) commander spoke to his handlers across from a location in South Kashmir’s Kulgam district recently about three local recruits joining him and they are without weapons. They say that he was asked to arrange the weapons locally. Sources said that the security agencies feel that there are apprehensions of more weapon snatching incidents from South Kashmir’s Kulgam and Shopian districts.
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