3 Lt Cols among 16 booked for attacking Kupwara PS, assaulting cops

Srinagar, May 30: The Jammu and Kashmir Police has named 16 army personnel, including three Lieutenant Colonels in First Information Report (FIR), in connection with an assault on a police station in Kupwara district of north Kashmir.
A senior police official said that they have registered a legal FIR against the Army personnel involved in assaulting on duty police officers.
“It is mentioned in the FIR that accused army men also abducted a police officer and assaulted other officers with rifle butts and sticks on Tuesday night,” he said.
Meanwhile army personnel have been booked for attempted murder, rioting, abduction, robbery, and other charges under the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
The official said that five police officers were injured during the attack when the army men allegedly entered the police station “unauthorized” around 11:40 pm. We have also made CCTV footage available, which is open evidence in the case,” he said, adding it is indiscipline from the professionals.
The officers named in the FIR include Lieutenant Colonels AnkitSood, RajuChauhan, and Nikhil from the 160 Territorial Army.
As per police FIR that a “huge number of armed and uniformed personnel of the 160 Territorial Army,” led by the three officers, “unauthorizedly entered the premises” of Police Station Kupwara.
“They collectively and without any provocation in the form of an unlawful assembly severely attacked the staff and officers present at the police station with rifle butts, kicks, and sticks,” it reads.
The FIR mentions that the information was immediately conveyed to senior police officers who rushed to the police station to rescue their colleagues.
“Upon seeing the arrival of police units and senior police officers, the alleged personnel and officers of the 160 Territorial Army, led by Lieutenant Colonels AnkitSood, RajuChauhan, and Nikhil, brandished their weapons, snatched the mobile phones of the injured personnel and the Station House Officer (SHO) of Police Station Kupwara, Inspector Mohammad Ishaq.
While fleeing, they abducted Muharir Head Constable (MHC) GhulamRasool along with them,” it adds.
“The army men have been booked under several IPC sections, including 186 (voluntary obstruction of public servant in discharge of his public duty), 332 (voluntarily causing harm to deter public servant from doing his duty), 307 (attempted murder), 342 (wrongful confinement), 147 (rioting), 149 (unlawful assembly), 392 (robbery), 397 (use of deadly weapons during a robbery or dacoity), and 365 (kidnapping and abduction with intent to secretly or wrongfully confine). They have also been charged under section 7/25 of the Arms Act,” FIR said.
The police have launched an investigation led by Deputy Superintendent of Police SyeedPeerzadaMujahidulHaq. The army raid reportedly followed a police raid on the residence of a local Territorial Army jawan wanted in an investigation.
Meanwhile PRO (Defence), Srinagar, Lt. Col MK Sahu said that reports of an altercation between police and army personnel and beating up therein of police personnel are misfounded and incorrect.
“Minor differences between the police personnel and a territorial army unit on an operational matter have been amicably resolved,” he said.
Earlier on Tuesday, a team from the Kupwara police station, investigating a case, raided the home of a Territorial Army jawan in Batapora village and detained him for questioning.
“Following the raid, soldiers led by an officer from the Territorial Army unit allegedly stormed the police station in the middle of the night and assaulted the officers, including one officer.
During the incident, four policemen, including an officer, were injured in the attack. Four of the injured were transferred to Sher-e-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS) for specialized treatment.
The injured policemen were identified as Constable SaleemMushtaq, Constable Zahoor Ahmad, Imtiyaz Ahmad Malik, and Rayees Khan, both Special Police Officers (SPOs). The condition of all the injured is reported to be stable.