Avtar Bhat
JAMMU, Feb 22: One person died while 10 others including seven policemen and three civilians were injured in a clash between Gujjars and police at Sarore Adda falling under Bari Brahmana Police Station in Samba district today.
The slain Gujjar has been identified as Mohammed Yaqoob, S/o Rehmat Ali of Rakh Barodin. He was hit by a bullet. The situation was tense but under control in the area. The authorities have ordered magisterial inquiry into the incident.
The trouble started in the morning when a police team from Police Station Noorpur in Kangra district of Himachal Pradesh (HP) reached the area along with two cops of Bari Brahmana Police to arrest one Gulzar, S/o Bashir Ahmed against whom a case was registered in Noorpur Police Station under Section 195 IPC.
As the police team which was headed by SI Hoshiar Singh of Police Station Noorpur who was accompanied by six cops of PS Noorpur and two from PS Bari Brahmana reached the spot they were attacked by the Gujjars in a bid to thwart the police move to arrest Gulzar.
Police said in the attack, three cops two of Bari Brahmana Police Station and one of HP got injured. The Gypsy of SDPO Bari Brahmana was also damaged. The other cops were also taken into captivity by the Gujjars. They also set a kulla on fire to shift the blame on police.
However, later a team of Police led by SDPO Bari Brahmana Kulbir Handa and SHO BB Police Station Bharat Sharma reached the spot and rescued the cops.
Meanwhile, a team of JDA Anti Encroachment Wing led by Director Land Management along with police as well as men and machinery reached the spot to demarcate the area as the 25 kanals of land on which the Gujjars were putting up belonged to JDA, officials sources said. They tried to dismantle the encroachments made on the land and Gujjars resisted the move and also attacked them with lathis and stones.
The frenzied mob also snatched one SLR from a cop as well one carbine from another cop and started firing on police.
To disperse the mob police used teargas shells and also fired some shots in the air. During the firing, two persons received gun shots. While one of them died on spot, another was serious but out of danger. He was rushed to hospital for treatment, police said.
Bari Brahmana Police has registered a case against the Gujjars under different Sections of the law.
To defuse the situation, DIG Jammu- Kathua Range, Ashkoor Wani, SSP Samba, Joginder Singh and Additional SP Faisal Qureshi visited the spot.
The DIG also convened a high level meeting of senior police officers to ascertain the facts.
DC Samba Sheetal Nanda told Excelsior that several persons were injured while one of them was killed after the Gujjars attacked a police team which along with JDA officials had gone in the area to demarcate the JDA land.
She said the authorities have ordered a magisterial probe to ascertain the facts.
SHO Bari Brahmana Bharat Sharma when contacted said that when a police team from HP and Bari Brahmana jointly raided the area to arrest one person involved in robbery the Gujjars attacked the police with stones and lathis. They captured the three cops and tried to set them ablaze in the Kulla but with the prompt and quick action by the senior officers they were rescued, he added.
He said when the JDA team and police later tried to remove the encroachments these miscreants involved in Highway robbery and other burglaries attacked them as well as police. They snatched a SLR from one of the cop and one carbine from another cop after inflicting injuries on their person and fired on police with the SLR. He said the civilian was killed in the firing by the miscreants and another person also received a bullet in his arm which too was fired by miscreants.
He said this was the same gang which was last time involved in robbery of ATM at Nanak Nagar. The police has registered a case against them.
Meanwhile, former Minister and MLA Ch Zulfkar has demanded a time bound judicial inquiry into the matter. He said the atrocities on people are increasing. The MLA lodged a strong protest before the Chief Secretary and demanded a time bound judicial probe into the matter.
Follow our WhatsApp channel
