Judge’s surprise security check at jail finds three cops absent

PATHANKOT:On conducting a surprise check on the security of seven of the eight accused in Kathua rape and murder case, lodged in the Gurdaspur Central jail, the Pathankot district and sessions judge found three cops missing on Wednesday.

The Gurdaspur Police have deputed seven cops and Pathankot Police have deputed 13 personnels on the security of seven accused out of which three were found absent. The judge however let the absentee go off after a warning.

The judge took up the matter with public prosecutors SS Basra and JK Chopra who have been pleading the case on behalf of Jammu and Kashmir government. The eighth accused is a juvenile and facing trail in Kathua.

Special public prosecutor JK Chopra claimed that he has spoken to the Pathankot and Gurdaspur SSP Vivek Sheel Soni and Swarandeep Singh respectively and told them to be aware of any lapse in the future.

The judge, who was also to decide on the defence counsel plea wherein the latter had asked prosecutors to reveal the names of witnesses going to be produced in advance, decided that name of the prosecution witnesses, be disclosed one day advance who were facing a threat and name of the witnesses need not be revealed who have no threats.

A defence lawyer also asked the hearing judge to preserve the call details of the accused Vishal Jangotra, son of the main accused Sanjhi Ram.

The chargesheet filed by the Jammu and Kashmir crime branch stated that Vishal had come from Meerut to commit the crime.

The case of Kathua rape and murder was shifted from Kathua to Pathankot on the request of the victim’s family.