Militants on Tuesday morning barged inside the guardroom of BJP leader and decamped with a service rifle of his Personal Security Officer (PSO) at Panzan area of Chadoora in central Kashmir’s Budgam district.
Official sources told news agency Global News Service (GNS) that some unknown militants believed to be 5 to 6 in number overpowered a security guard, constable Bashir Ahmad Hanjura (belt no: 283/security) and snatched the AK-56 rifle along with two magazines and some rounds from his possession while he was performing duty near the residence of Bartiya Janta Party (BJP) leader Ghulam Mohammad Chopan at Gori Mohalla at Panzan in Chadoora. “BJP leader was inside his home at the time of incident.”
“The incident occurred at around 9:25 am today morning,” sources said.
Chopan had unsuccessfully contested the 2014 Assembly elections from Chrar-i-Sharief constituency.
The gunmen after snatched the service rifle from the security guard managed to flee from the spot, they said.
“Senior officers from police including SP Budgam, SDPO, SHO and some officers from CRPF and army reached the spot to assess the situation”, they said.
An alert has been sounded and all the entry and exit points leading to the village has been sealed and massive searches has been launched to locate the gunmen decamped with the rifle.
A police officer while confirming the incident told GNS that they have registered a case and further investigations have been taken up in this regard.
“A hunt has been launched to nab the suspected militants”, he said.
Meanwhile, authorities beefed up the security across Srinagar city and south Kashmir parts following recent attack at Pampore that left eight CRPF men and two militants dead and injuring twenty two others.
