The Kashmir Pulse

JAMMU — A magisterial probe has been ordered by Jammu and Kashmir Government into the encounter in Sidhra area of Jammu in December last year in which four militants were killed.

An official, while speaking to the news agency KNO, said that Assistant Commissioner Jammu, Piyush Dhotra has been appointed as an enquiry officer.

The encounter took place near a police checkpoint in Sidhra on December 28, in which four militants were killed and a huge cache of arms and ammunition was also recovered.

AC Jammu Piyush Dhotra said that he has been directed to conduct a magisterial enquiry and submit the report to the District Magistrate Jammu.

The probe has been ordered in accordance with the guidelines issued by the National Human Rights Commission.

“In order to gather facts of the matter and to conduct the enquiry in a fair and transparent manner, anyone having any information can come to the office and record his or her statement from today till January 21,” he said.

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JAMMU — Four heavily armed militants were killed in an encounter after security forces intercepted a Kashmir-bound truck, they were traveling in, on the highway town at Sidhra on Jammu's outskirts on Wednesday.

War-like stores including seven AK-47 rifles, one M4 carbine, and three pistols including hand grenades and other materials were also recovered from the encounter site.

“Bodies of four terrorists have been recovered from the truck. Seven AK assault rifles, one M4 rifle, three pistols, and a large quantity of ammunition were also seized from their possession,” said Mukesh Singh, Additional Director General of Police Jammu, as per the news agency KNO.

He said, “An encounter broke out between security forces and terrorists at around 7:25 AM near check post at Sidhra, amid intense fog near Tawi Bridge along the Jammu-Srinagar national highway, when the police party tried to intercept a Kashmir-bound truck coming in suspicious circumstances.”

A police official said that there was an input about the unusual movement of a truck on the highway. “An alert was sounded and the police party at Sidhra post tried to stop the truck. After being challenged, the driver managed to flee away and the terrorists hiding inside fired at security forces. The retaliatory firing was done,” he said.

The residents of Sidhra area woke up to the sounds of five to six grenade blasts followed by a heavy exchange of fire. The joint operation was carried out by the Army, CRPF and J&K Police.

Police said that the intense firing from both sides continued for about an hour after which the truck caught fire and later the fire tenders were pressed into service to douse the fire. “After the sanitization of the spot, security forces recovered four bodies of the terrorists along with seven AK-47 rifles, three pistols, and other incriminating materials,” the police official said.

Moreover, the General Officer Commanding of Army's Tiger Division, Major General Gaurav Gautam told reporters that the interception of the terrorists was the result of the "high alert" of security agencies. "All the material recovered from the possession of the (slain) terrorists is being scrutinized and analyzed. We are not aware of the group... whether they came from across the border or not, is a matter of investigation. The only thing we can tell right now is that the truck was going from Jammu towards Srinagar side," the senior Army officer said.

He added that as of now, the threat has been successfully naturalized in a joint operation, without any collateral damage. “At this juncture, I can’t be able to tell more but four terrorists have been killed in a joint operation,” the Army officer said, adding, “Seven AK-47 rifles and three pistols have been recovered from the spot.”

He said that more details about the association of terrorists and their plans is part of the investigation and will be shared at an appropriate time.

How did the Sidhra gunfight break?

The Addition Director General of Police, Jammu Zone said that security forces have been on the alert and the border grid was increased in view of the Republic Day.

“The alert Highway QRT (Quick Response Team) noticed an unusual movement of a truck that was roaming on the highway at odd hours. The usual timing of the truck movement is different but the suspicious truck moved at different timing,” the ADGP said.

The alert QRT silently chased the truck and intercepted it at an appropriate spot, where the civilian population is minimal and chances of collateral damage were minimum. "The driver of the truck was signaled to stop at the check post, far away from the city. However, sensing trouble, the driver managed to flee from the spot, and terrorists inside opened fire at the police party, which was followed by retaliatory fire, and an encounter broke out."

Meanwhile, a manhunt was launched to arrest the driver who is still absconding. “Alert has been sounded to nab the driver. All SHOs and other security establishments have been directed to search for the driver at every nook and corner of the city,” the ADGP said.

Moreover, the encounter comes after the police on Monday defused an improvised explosive device (IED) weighing 15 kilograms which was recovered in Jammu and Kashmir’s Udhampur district.

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JAMMU — The investigating team of Jammu and Kashmir Police has claimed that six people, including five members of a family, who were found dead inside two houses here 10 days ago at Jammu’s Sidhra area, died of an overdose of drugs, which they had decided to take to end their lives after fighting multiple court cases and depression.

Addressing a press Conference, as per the news agency KNO, Senior Superintendent of Police Jammu, Chandan Kohli said that Noor-ul-Habib is believed to have convinced the five members of the family including an elderly woman, her specially-abled daughter and son, another daughter and grandson to commit suicide as both the families were under depression due to pending court cases and medical reasons.

He also informed police that they have arrested two people, a health worker and a plumber, for deliberately concealing the occurrence of the crime and not informing police on time, which could have saved their lives.

Flanked by the four members of a Special Investigation Team (SIT) that was formed to crack the mysterious deaths in the Tawi Vihar locality of Sidhra on August 17, the officer lauded their hard work and professional investigation.

“According to our investigation, Habib moved to Jammu in 1997. He used to financially help his next-door neighbour Sakeena, who worked as a domestic help at his home. Hailing from Doda district, Sakeena was facing several court cases and two of her children were specially abled,” Kohli said.

He said after appearing in a court case in the first week of August, Habib convinced Sakeena, her daughter Rubeena and grandson Sajad Ali to end their lives.

Police recovered the bodies of the four from Habib's house on August 17, while the bodies of Sakeena's differently-abled children Zaffar Salim and Naseema were found in their house after Habib's sister Shahzada, a resident of Srinagar, informed police that her brother was not answering the phone.

“The bodies were taken to the GMC hospital where the autopsy was performed by a board of doctors in the presence of a magistrate and the process was videographed. The viscera samples were sent for a chemical examination in the Forensic Sciences Laboratory,” Kohli said, adding that the final autopsy and FSL reports are still awaited.

Referring to the investigation during which police obtained CCTV footage, call recordings and bank account details, he said Sakina's specially-abled children were the first to die of a drug overdose on August 12, followed by Sakeena on August 14 and the others on August 15.

“They started working on their plan on August 5 by bringing cannulas, drips and medicines from chemist shops and deactivating the CCTV the next day. The services of health worker Sanjeev Kumar, who was known to Habib, were utilised to fix the cannulas on all of them, while plumber Vijay Kumar was paid Rs 2.5 lakh by Habib to dig a pit in Sakeena's house," the police officer said.

He said Habib, along with Rubeena and Ali, visited the city to buy medicines. They ordered food on August 14 and called the health worker in the evening.

The SSP said the health worker and the plumber were arrested for not informing police on time and a portion of the money paid to the latter was also recovered.

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SRINAGAR — Six members of a family were found dead on Wednesday under suspicious circumstances at their residences in Jammu, police said.

Of the six bodies recovered, two were found in one house and four in another house in Tawi Vihar in Sidhra locality on the outskirts of Jammu city. Five of the deceased are from Marmat Doda and one from Barzulla area of Srinagar.

As per official reports, at around 10 PM, a telephonic call was received by the police from a woman in Barzulla Srinagar, regarding suspicion that her brother namely Noor-ul-Habib was not picking up her calls and she has apprehension about some untoward happening to him.

Accordingly, police parties of police post Sidhra and Police Station Nagrota rushed to the spot and found the doors of the house bolted from inside.

“It was found by the police party that the dead bodies are laying in the house. On this, a team of FSL and photographers of the Crime section of PCR were called in,” a police official said.

The locals of the area informed that the four dead bodies are of Noor-ul-Habib son of Habib Ullah, Sakina Begum widow of Ghulam Hassan, Sajad Ahmed son of Farooq Ahmed Magray and Nassema Akhter daughter of Ghulam Hassan.

The locals also informed that there is another house which belongs to one of the deceased, the police officer said.

The police party went there, opened the doors and found two more bodies, identified as Rubina Bano and her brother Zafar Salim.

In terms of relation, sources said the deceased include Sakina Begum, her two daughters—Naseema Akhter and Rubina Bano, son Zafar Salim and two others—Noor Ul Habib and Sajad Ahmad.

Meanwhile, senior police officers including SSP Jammu Chandan Kolhi (IPS) also rushed to the spot and directed for a thorough probe into the incident. A SIT headed by Sanjay Sharma (SP Rural), Pardeep Kumar (SDPO Nagrota), Inspector Vishav Partap (SHO Nagrota) and SI Majid Hussain (IC PP Sidhra) has been formed to investigate the matter.

A doctor at the medical college told some reporters that all these dead bodies had a drip line attached to them, adding that the cause of their death would be known after the post-mortem.

Police said the post-mortem would be conducted after the family members of the deceased reach Jammu.

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