Carcasses in nullah trigger protest

: Tension gripped Samba district on Tuesday after the carcasses of two calves were discovered in Sarore area, 20 kilometers from Jammu.

As per the sources, few kids who were playing cricket spotted carcasses of two calves lying in a nullah in Sarore area in Samba district around 11.30am.

The kids informed the police and in the meanwhile, news spread and hundreds gathered at the spot. Around 2pm, locals lifted the calves carcasses and brought them to Sarore adda on the Jammu-Pathankot national highway, demanding arrest of the culprits behind the mischief.

Protesters amid sloganeering, blocked the national highway leading to huge traffic jam on both sides of the road.

Meanwhile, the administration banned mobile internet services in entire region to prevent the circulation of inflammatory messages and pictures.

Senior police officers including SSP Jammu Vivek Gupta, SSP Samba Anil Magotra, IGP Jammu SDS Jamwal, Jammu divisional commissioner Hemant Sharma rushed to the spot. They assured severest punishment for the guilty. However, they failed to pacify the locals despite all their assurances.

A scuffle broke out between police and locals when cops tried to remove calves from the road.

Police had to use smoke shells and cane-charged on protesters and the traffic was restored around 3.30pm.

Samba deputy commissioner Rajinder Singh said, "The normalcy has returned to the area but we are maintaining a constant vigil in the area.”

Meanwhile, Bishnah station house officer(SHO) inspector Rajesh Sharma said,"We have registered the case and an investigation has been initiated.”

“The bodies of the calves were sent for post mortem which will establish the cause of death.”

"There were no blood stains around the bodies and it appears that they were brought from somewhere else on the spot to vitiate the situation,” Bishnah station house officer Rajesh said.