Jammu- Three Special Police Officers (SPOs) were on Tuesday dismissed from service for dereliction of duty and involvement in the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act in Jammu and Kashmir’s Samba district, officials said.
The SPOs — Daljeet Singh, Bali Ram and Deepak Singh — have been disengaged from service while disposing off two separate departmental enquiries initiated against them among and other officials in 2023, they said.
The officials said that Daljeet Singh and Bali Ram were arrested in a case of murder registered at the Ramgarh police station but they escaped from police custody.
They were disengaged from service for dereliction of duties, they said.
The officials said that Deepak Singh has been disengaged from service for his involvement in a case registered under relevant sections of the NDPS Act at the Samba police station.
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Modi posed for cameras when Pulwama happened; no peace in J-K: Farooq Abdullah
Srinagar, May 7 (PTI) National Conference (NC) president Farooq Abdullah Tuesday hit out at the central government for claiming there is peace in Jammu and Kashmir, saying Prime Minister Narendra Modi was busy shooting for a film when 40 CRPF jawans were killed in 2019 Pulwama attack.
“Had there been normalcy, would there have been encounters in Kulgam and Surankote? Our jawans are getting martyred … how long will you let them die? They got 40 CRPF personnel martyred in Pulwama (in 2019).
“The then Governor himself said that (explosive-ridden) car was roaming around for three weeks and when it reached the spot, innocent people were martyred. What was the PM doing? He was shooting for a film in a forest,” Abdullah told reporters in Baramulla during an election rally.
He said then J-K governor Satya Pal Malik had told the prime minister that it was our mistake that 40 CRPF personnel were killed, but Modi asked him to shut up, saying “we have to blame the other country.”
“This is the situation and you are saying there is peace. Had there been peace, would there be so many security personnel with me? Where is the peace? Thank God, we are moving freely here. But the way they are creating hatred across the country, Muslims are targeted, their beards shaven and asked to chant Jai Shri Ram,” he said.
The former Union minister accused the BJP of creating hatred in the country and asked it if Ram belonged only to it.”Is Ram only theirs?”
“Who prays in which way is their own will. This is a free country. But it will not remain free. They will dictate to us what to wear, what to eat, and where to offer Namaz.
“Do you remember how they demolished our mosques, madrassas, and then they claim ‘sabka saath, sabka vikas,’ and sabka beda gark,” he added.
The former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister asked if the “hate” will make India stronger.
“Is there any difference between Hindus and Muslims? I am a doctor, we both have the same bodies. God created us as equals. We are responsible for creating differences. The politicians are responsible for fostering hatred, otherwise, there would be no hatred in India.
“When India got freedom, we joined Gandhi’s India and not Modi’s. We want to bring Gandhi’s India back where we can walk and talk with dignity,” the NC leader said.
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Mehbooba Mufti opposed withdrawal of AFSPA from J-K when I was CM: Omar Abdullah
Srinagar, May 7 (PTI) National Conference leader Omar Abdullah on Tuesday accused PDP president Mehbooba Mufti of opposing the withdrawal of the controversial AFSPA from Jammu and Kashmir when he was the chief minister.
“I have not forgotten this thing. When I was talking about the removal of AFSPA (Armed Forces Special Powers Act) from here (in 2012-13), Mehbooba Mufti, who is PDP president, said Omar Abdullah is disrespecting the Army.
“She said the talk about the revocation of AFSPA is belittling the Army. That is where the opposition to revocation of AFSPA came from,” Abdullah told reporters in north Kashmir Kupwara district after an election meeting.
He was reacting to a statement of Apni Party leader Altaf Bukhari that time had come for the armed forces in Jammu and Kashmir to go back to the barracks.
“I had tried to send them back to the barracks in 2012 and 2013. That time the conspiracy was hatched by the party with which Bukhari was affiliated at that time. Today, they are talking about sending the army back to barracks. It is good. Better late than never,” he said.
Asked about the crisis in the National Conference (NC) in Kargil on giving support to the INDIA bloc candidates for Ladakh Lok Sabha seat, Abdullah said he cannot do anything which is beyond his control.
“To stand by our commitment to the INDIA bloc, the National Conference party has disappeared there (Kargil) because we clearly told our colleagues in Kargil that if we have to support anyone and help anyone to win, it should be Congress candidate T Namgyal.
He said the NC’s colleagues in Kargil unfortunately did not accept it and decided to leave the party en masse. Expressing regret over the development, he said he had repeatedly visited Kargil after 2019 and rebuilt the NC there with a lot of difficulty.
“We cannot do anything about something that is not in our control but still I will appeal to people with National Conference in Leh and Kargil, if there are any left, to vote for Namgyal,” he added.
The entire Kargil unit of the NC on Monday resigned from the party saying the party high command was pressurising them to support Congress candidate Namgyal.
Qamar Ali Akhoon, who was the additional general secretary and party in-charge for Kargil, said the political and religious organisations in Kargil had decided to support independent candidate Haji Hanifa for the Lok Sabha election. He said it was not possible for him to go against the “local consensus”.
Under the seat-sharing agreement between the Congress and the NC, the two parties had agreed to field three candidates each for the six Lok Sabha seats in Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh. While the NC has fielded candidates on three seats in the Kashmir valley, the Congress has fielded its candidates on two seats in Jammu and one in Ladakh.
A similar situation had arisen in the 2009 Lok Sabha elections, which were contested by the NC and the Congress in a pre-poll alliance.
NC leader Ghulam Hassan Khan had rebelled against the party decision to concede the mandate for Ladakh Lok Sabha seat to Congress leader P Namgyal and contested, and won, as an independent candidate.
Khan, who defeated Namgyal by a margin of 3,000 votes, supported the Congress-led UPA-II government on the advice of Farooq Abdullah.
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Visually impaired man first in Kashmir Valley to use EC’s home voting facility
Srinagar, May 7 (PTI) Ali Mohammad Rather, a visually impaired person, was the first to vote for the election to Jammu and Kashmir’s Srinagar Lok Sabha constituency on Tuesday under the new home voting facility.
The facility was started by the Election Commission for the 2024 Lok sabha elections for those who are not able to visit polling stations to exercise their franchise.
Rather, 75, hailing from the Dara area of the Hazratbal assembly segment in Srinagar district became the first person in the Kashmir Valley to cast his vote through the home voting facility, an official of the District Election Office, Srinagar, said.
“The first home vote has been cast and sealed in a ballot box at Dara for blind voter (People with Disability) Ali Mohd Rather in part 68 of 19-Hazratbal segment,” the official said.
Voting for the seat will be held on May 13 in the fourth round of the seven-phase general elections.
The other early voter was a 90-year-old woman from the Harwan area of the city.
The nonagenarian, who goes by the mononym ‘Fazi’, was beaming with pride after casting her vote from her home at Harwan.
A team of officials from the district election office on Tuesday went to various places in Srinagar, including the Dal Lake area, to facilitate voters who had registered themselves under the home voting facility to exercise their franchise.
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Killing of IAF corporal, village defence guard: Search operation intensified in Jammu
Jammu, May 7 (PTI) Security forces have intensified the search operations in the twin-border districts of Poonch and Rajouri in Jammu region to track down the terrorists responsible for attacking an IAF convoy that claimed the life of a corporal rank personnel, officials said on Tuesday.
The agencies have also expanded the scope of operation to various areas of Doda, Udhampur, and Kathua districts to track down two groups of terrorists involved in the killing of a village defence guard (VDG) in the Basangarh area on April 28.
Terrorists targeted an Indian Air Force (IAF) convoy in the Shaistar area of Poonch district, resulting in the killing of an IAF corporal and injuries to four others on Saturday.
Armed with surveillance equipment, including drones and sniffer dogs, the search operation, which entered the fourth day on Tuesday, has been intensified in Shahsitar, Gursai, Sanai, Lasana, and Sheendara top in the Surankote belt and adjoining areas in Poonch district, officials said.
While some dense forest areas have been scanned and routes towards Kashmir have been plugged, there has been no trace of the terrorists involved in the attacks so far, they added.
Twenty-two people have been detained for questioning and the authorities are reviewing some CCTV footage for leads, they said.
Posters offering a cash reward of Rs 20 lakh for any information leading to the arrest of the two individuals, believed to be the prime suspects, have been put up in Surankote, they said.
In Rajouri, security forces have launched a fresh search operation and put troops on alert following reports of suspected movement of two people in Sada and Kandi areas that have been cordoned off.
Security measures have been tightened with increased checking of vehicles on busy roads, especially on the Jammu Rajouri-Poonch national highway, which is vital for the twin districts of Rajouri and Poonch — part of the Anantnag parliamentary constituency going to polls on May 25, they said.
On April 28, a village defence guard (VDG) was killed in a brief encounter with terrorists in the remote Panara village in Udhampur district.
Security agencies have expanded the scope of the search operation to various areas of Doda, Udhampur, and Kathua districts to track down the terrorists.
The ongoing search operation, which entered its 10th day on Tuesday, has been extended to the Bhalessa areas of Doda district, while operations continue in Basantgarh, Dudu, Bani, and Seoj areas of Udhampur and Kathua districts, officials said.
However, there has been no breakthrough in the search so far, they said.
Additional Director General of Police (Jammu zone) Anand Jain had earlier said that the two groups of terrorists are believed to be present in the area after recently infiltrating from across the border, with each group consisting of four and six members, respectively.
The twin districts have witnessed several major terrorist attacks in the past two years, indicating a resurgence of terror activities in the region, which was once declared terrorism-free and remained peaceful between 2003 and 2021.
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Properties of 7 Pak-based handlers attached in Baramulla
Srinagar, May 7 (PTI) Properties of seven Pakistan-based handlers were attached in Jammu and Kashmir’s Baramulla district, police said on Tuesday.
“After obtaining an attachment order passed by the additional sessions court in Baramulla, 13 kanals of land worth lakhs of rupees belonging to terror handlers based in Pakistan were attached,” a police spokesperson said.
He identified the handlers as Shabir Ahmad Sofi of Sheikhpora, Ghulam Nabi Alaie of Waripora Payeen, Ghulam Nabi Sheikh of Warpora Bala, Sharief ud din Chopan and Gulla Sheikh of Reshipora Authoora, Mohammad Rafiq Khan of Saloosa and Abdul Hameed Parray of Frasthar Tilgam.
The property was identified during an investigation conducted by police, he added.
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MeT Forecasts Mainly Dry, Hot Weather In J&K
Srinagar- Mainly dry and “hot” weather has been forecast over Jammu and Kashmir till May 10 , MeT said on Tuesday.
“Mainly dry and hot weather is expected in Jammu and Kashmir,” said meteorological department here in a statement for the forecast during the next 24 hours and subsequent two days. However, the MeT department has said that thundershower activity during the afternoon can’t be ruled out at a few places till May 10.
On May 11, it said, there is forecast of partly to generally cloudy weather with light rain and thunder at a few places.
Generally cloudy weather with light rain/snow (over higher reaches) has been predicted at many places with thunder activity at few places on May 12.
On May 13, it said, partly to generally cloudy weather is expected with light rain at few places.
Regarding temperature, a MeT spokesperson as per news agency GNS said that Srinagar recorded a low of 10.5°C against 11.2°C on the previous night and it was 0.2°C below normal for the summer capital of JK for this time of the year.
Qazigund recorded a minimum of 9.0°C, same as on the previous night and it was 0.2°C below normal for the gateway town of Kashmir, he said.
Pahalgam recorded a low of 5.8°C against 5.4°C on the previous night and it was 0.3°C above normal for the famous resort in south Kashmir.
Kokernag, also in south Kashmir, recorded a minimum of 10.3°C against 9.7°C and it was 1.1°C above normal, the official said.
Kupwara town recorded a minimum of 8.6°C against 8.0°C on the previous night and it was 0.7°C below normal there, the official said.
Gulmarg recorded a minimum of 7.6°C against 5.2°C on the previous night and it was above normal by 2.4°C for the world famous skiing resort in north Kashmir’s Baramulla district.
Jammu, he said, recorded a low of 22.1°C against 21.3°C on the previous night and it was below normal by 0.9°C for the winter capital of J&K. Banihal recorded a low of 11.8°C, Batote 15.0°C and Bhaderwah 11.6°C, he said.
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Man killed over land dispute in Jammu; police conduct multiple raids
Jammu, May 7 (PTI) The Jammu and Kashmir police has stepped up their efforts in the ongoing investigation into the murder of a person over a land dispute here and have conducted multiple raids at the residences of suspects, officials said on Wednesday.
The incident occurred on May 1, when Avtar Singh (40), son of Balbir Singh, was hit on his head with an iron rod and died because of excessive bleeding during a scuffle between two groups, who staked their claim over the piece of land in Greater Kailash locality.
An angry mob, including the family and relatives of the deceased, blocked Kalu-Chak road on Jammu-Pathankot national highway and demanded a CBI probe into the killing, police said.
“Continuing crackdown on suspects and accused involved in the Greater Kailash murder case, police seized two vehicles involved in the commission of crime along with raids at houses of suspects to affect their arrest, ” a police spokesman said.
He said that the police examined the CCTV footage of the area around the crime spot and digitally picked up relevant evidence, he said.
Police remain committed to solving the crime and attacking its root causes, he said.
Eight people have been detained in connection with the case so far, he said.
Two police officials were suspended in connection with the murder and a departmental inquiry was ordered.
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ACB Arrests Naib Tehsildar, Khrew For Accepting Bribe
Observer News Service
Srinagar- Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) on Tuesday said to have trapped and arrested Naib Tehsildar Khrew, Pulwama while a Constable was also held for allegedly facilitating the offence.
As per a statement, the spokesman said J&K Anti Corruption Bureau received a complaint against Naib Tehsildar, Khrew, District Pulwama alleging therein that the said Naib-Tehsildar is demanding Rs 10,000 from complainant through his clerk namely Ajaz Ahmad for settlement of dispute of ancestral land at village Sathpokhran, Khrew Pulwama,
“The complainant approached the Tehsil Office Khrew several times for settlement of the dispute, but the Naib Tehsildar didn’t budge. Moreover the complainant has been harassed through Notices by the said Naib Tehsildar,” the statement said.
“The complainant approached ACB for taking necessary action against the said Naib-Tehsildar and his clerk namely Aijaz Ahmed. On receipt of the complaint, a case under FIR number 02/2024 under section 7 PC Act 1988 was registered at PS ACB Anantnag and investigation taken up,” the statement said.
During the course of investigation, a trap team was constituted. The team laid a successful trap and caught the accused Maqbool Hussain Dar R/o Nooripor, Pattan presently posted as Naib Tehsildar, Khrew, District Pulwama red handed while demanding and accepting bribe amount of Rs 10,000 from the complainant and the Sg Constable Ajaz Ahmad, attached with the Naib Tehsildar was also arrested for facilitating the commission of offence, the statement said, adding that further investigation into the case is going on.
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Woman drug peddler arrested in J-K’s Kathua with cash, heroin
Jammu, May 7 (PTI) A woman drug peddler was arrested in Jammu and Kashmir’s Kathua district on Tuesday and cash and heroin was recovered from her possession, police said.
Acting on information, a police team intercepted a woman at a checkpoint in Rajbagh area and recovered heroin, Rs 15,670 cash and a mobile in Khanpur area, they said.
The drug peddler identified as Asha Bibi was arrested and a case was registered against her, police said.
She was involved in illegal trade of selling narcotics to the drug addicts of Khanpur area as well as its adjoining area and had kept a huge quantity of narcotics substance in her possession, they said.
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