*JCB sets on fire, driver beaten
Excelsior Correspondent
SAMBA, May 13: Nine people including 3 police women were injured today in stone pelting by the Gujjar community as the District Administration launched a massive encroachment drive in Balol ‘Khad’ area of Bari-Brahmana.
As per the reports, a major encroachment drive was launched today on 2nd consecutive day by the District Administration with the help of police but when the anti-encroachment team started the operation, agitated people of Gujjar community living illegally on the encroached land resorted to stone pelting pelted in which 9 people including 3 police women were injured. They were later shifted to Government Medical College & Hospital in Jammu for medical treatment.
Angry Gujjars also set the JCB machine of the anti-encroachment team on fire and beat its driver badly. In retaliation, the police also fired bullets in the air to disperse the crowd. Meanwhile, Samba district administration managed to vacate about 150 kanals of land to develop the industrial area.
As per the reports, people of Gujjar community were illegally sitting on Government land in Balol Khad and were also doing illegal drug business from there. In the past, police had also raided the area as many notorious drug smugglers including Bhag Ali, Lau Gujjar and Sheru were operating from there. The anti-encroachment drive had started on yesterday when the team demolished 30 illegal huts raised on the encroached land.
To disperse the crowd, the police fired several bullets in the air and registered a case and detained many people. The injured police women were identified as Ashiya Chaudhary, Surbhi Sharma and Meenakshi Sharma, while the policemen were identified as Havildar Davinder Kumar, Subhash Singh, SPO Altaf Ali, Yogesh Kumar and Anil Kumar. The injured JCB driver was identified as Saddam Hussain son of Noor Mohammad, a resident of Badhori village.
As soon as the information about stone pelting on the police party was received, DC Samba Abhishek Sharma, SSP Samba Vinay Sharma, SP Surendra Chaudhary, Revenue Officer and other administrative officers reached the spot and handled the situation carefully.
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