J&K number car tries to run over cops near Pathankot, search on
COP INJURED Occupants of the car, believed to be 45 in number, escaped and the vehicle was found abandoned from near a hut at Bhadrali village during a search operation
PATHANKOT : Police on Saturday launched a search operation after a car bearing registration number of Jammu and Kashmir allegedly tried to run over police personnel on patrol duty near Madhopur on the Punjab-J&K border.
The patrol party of the Pathankot police tried to stop the silver-coloured Maruti Alto K-10 at a check barrier but the occupants tried to run over the cops, Pathankot senior superintendent of police (SSP) Nilambari Jagdalay Vijay said. One cop was injured in the incident.
The SSP said the occupants, believed to be 4-5 in number, escaped and the vehicle was found abandoned near the hut of a shepherd, Billu Gujjar, at Bhadrali village during a search operation. “A case under Sections 353 (using criminal force to deter a public servant from doing duty, punishable with imprisonment for two years) and 186 (deliberately obstructing government servant in discharge of his functions, punishable with a term of three months or a fine) has been registered against unidentified persons at the Sujanpur police station,” said Nilambari, adding the police were questioning locals from where the car was found.
Addressing the media, superintendent of police (operations) Hem Raj Pushap said the police got a tip-off that some suspicious persons were trying to enter Punjab from J&K in an Aalto car (JK-02BC-6512) through the Ravi route. He said the area was put on high alert and when an assistant sub-inspector and his team tried to stop the car at the checkpoint, the person behind the wheel tried to run over the cops. He sped away taking advantage of darkness, said the SP.
He said the police have arrested shepherd Billu and hunt had been launched to nab the car occupants. The police found a rope, a pair of ladies footwear, a burqa and some packets of eatables labelled in Urdu. He said the car is owned by some Gani of RS Pura in Jammu. “Our counterparts in Jammu have been asked to trace the owner,” the SP said.
Meanwhile, security has been beefed up in the area.
Last year, occupants of a black Maruti Alto car had abandoned their vehicle near Bhagwal village in Pathankot, which is close to the Indo-Pak international border, and escaped on foot after the villagers had tried to stop the vehicle.
Terrorists had sneaked in from across the border and attacked the Pathankot airbase in January last year, while Dinanagar in adjoining Gurdaspur district was targeted by terrorists on July 27, 2015.
The Pathankot terror attack had claimed lives of seven security personnel, while four terrorists were killed in the incident.
Three heavily-armed terrorists wearing army fatigues had stormed a police station in Dinanagar town in Gurdaspur district killing seven persons, including a SP, before they were gunned down during a day-long operation.