BSF deserter evades arrest in Jalandhar
Besides service weapon, 10 magazines, 250 rounds seized from house; two people detained
JALANDHAR/JAMMMU: On the trail of a Border Security Force (BSF) constable who is on the run since Sunday after stabbing a colleague in Jammu region, a joint police-BSF team missed the deserter jawan by a whisker during an operation in Jalandhar on Tuesday. The team of Jammu and Punjab cops and the BSF, however, detained two people and recovered the jawan’s service light machine gun (LMG), 10 magazines and 250 rounds from a house in Khurla Kingra locality.
JALANDHAR/JAMMMU: On the trail of a Border Security Force (BSF) constable who is on the run since Sunday after stabbing a colleague in Jammu region, a joint police-BSF team missed the deserter jawan by a whisker during an operation in Jalandhar on Tuesday.
The team of Jammu and Punjab cops and the BSF, however, detained two people and recovered the jawan’s service light machine gun (LMG), 10 magazines and 250 rounds from a house in Khurla Kingra locality. A native of Ojhaula village in Bihar’s Darbhanga district, BSF jawan Rajib Ranjan (26) had stabbed his colleague Raghubir in Kanachak area of Akhnoor sector, and was hiding in the house.
The joint team cordoned off the area on Tuesday noon. However, Ranjan managed to flee and the team could lay their hands at the firearms and two men—Mithun Chaudhary and Mohan Chaudhary—who had given shelter to Ranjan.
Jalandhar police commissioner Arpit Shukla addressed the media after the operation, where additional deputy commissioner (ADCP-II) Amrik Singh Powar, BSF officer Manish and Rajiv Sharma of Jammu police were also present. Shukla said an alert has been sounded and Ranjan’s pictures flashed across the country.
Shukla said Ranjan was staying with Mohan and Mithu since Sunday and he was outside the house when teams reached there. “It appears that Ranjan got a tip off about the operation and fled,” he said, adding recovery of the firearms was a big success as he could have used them to commit a bigger crime.
Both Mohan and Mithu, too, hail from Darbhanga district, but “they were not aware that Ranjan was on the run after stabbing his colleague”. “If they are found guilty of giving shelter to Ranjan despite knowing about his crime, action will be taken against them,” he said.
On how Ranjan could enter Punjab from Jammu undetected with an LMG and so much ammunition, Shukla said he had packed the firearms in a big bag and investigations were on.
Jammu’s Kanachak SHO Rajeev Sharma said the stabbed jawan was recovering well and was out of danger. “Raghubir told us that he was attacked suddenly,” Sharma said.