Suspected terrorist ‘arrested’; AK-47 recovered For Jammu Police, suspected terrorist is disgruntled youth

Recovery or cover-up; no takers for police claim

STATE TIMES NEWS
JAMMU: Contradicting media reports that the main accused in the sensational weapon snatching case had surrendered before SSP Shopian on Tuesday, Inspector General of Police Jammu Range Dr SD Singh Jamwal on Wednesday clarified that because of sustained efforts and pressure maintained by the Jammu Police one of the main accused was apprehended in Shopian and later on brought to Jammu.
The IGP said on the basis of disclosures made by him we have managed to recover the stolen weapon from under the Tawi Bridge.
However, before the press conference senior police officers had released pictures of the main accused posing for mobile phone cameras of junior policemen under the Tawi Bridge on Whatsapp group managed by the district police. The police team had visited the spot to recover the stolen weapon. Capturing the images of recovery on Whatsapp makes the entire operations fishy. This is perhaps for the first time when the police filmed a terrorist or criminal for flashing it on social media. The question arises why?
Despite releasing the pictures of weapon recovery police officers failed to answer pointed queries.
Questions were raised as to how the stolen weapon remain undetected for four long days in the heart of Jammu city when police authorities claimed to have kept Jammu on high alert and thorough searches were conducted in and around Tawi bridge and other places to track down the accused youth.
Another interesting aspect which came to light was polished look of the AK-47 rifle at the time of recovery from the river-bed side. The weapon was neat and clean and not even covered with sand particles raising doubts whether it has been really kept there by the accused before fleeing Jammu. While patting his own back and complimenting the police teams, IGP said with the arrest of all three accused involved in the first ever case of weapon snatching in Jammu we have successfully recovered the weapon and solved the case.
Responding to the media queries, the IGP also clarified after arresting two accused within 24 hours of the incident coming to light the third accused had managed to flee by changing his facial features.
The IGP also claimed all three ‘disgruntled-youth’ had no past history of any involvement in the militancy related incidents. He claimed they had decided to steal the weapon probably to carry out extortion in Kashmir valley and chose to execute their plans as they realised it was easy for them to steal a weapon in Jammu in comparison to Kashmir valley where security forces remain in a state of high alert.
Aamir along with two of his accomplices namely Shaheed and Masood on March 25 night sprinkled chilly powder in the eyes of Constable Mohammad Hanief, Constable Mohammad Hanief, PSO of Anjuman Minhaj-e-Rasool Chairman Maulana Dehlavi, was on his way to the District Police Lines on foot. They hit him with a rod and escaped with the weapon.
Injured Constable was deployed with the religious cleric, who was in the town after wrapping up his three-day Kashmir visit.