2 J&K BJP workers, their guards held for faking militant attack

SRINAGAR/JAMMU : Two BJP workers and their two personal security guards have been arrested for allegedly faking a militant attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Kupwara district last week, officials said on Tuesday.

BJP workers Ishfaq Mir and Basharat Ahmad, and the guards were arrested on Monday, they said.

The BJP workers, in connivance with the guards, faked the attack on Friday night at Gulgam in Kupwara to get enhanced security, the officials said.

Mir, son of BJP district president Mohammad Shafi Mir, sustained injuries to the arm.

After a preliminary investigation, police had said that Mir was injured in accidental firing by a security guard. However, after sustained questioning, the accused confessed that they had faked the attack to get more security, the officials said.

All of them were presented before a local court on Kupwara on Monday which remanded them to seven days' police custody. Meanwhile, the BJP has suspended the district president and ordered an internal inquiry.

BJP's Kashmir spokesperson G M Mir has been asked to submit a report by July 25.

The BJP also removed three office-bearers for “anti-party activity” in Kathua district.The disciplinary committee led by the party’s chief spokesperson in J&K Sunil Sethi probed a complaint against the three leaders.

Municipal councillors -- Anirudh Sharma, Bhopinder Raj, Ravinder Pathania, Karan Singh and Joginder Pal -- from Kathua municipal committee had recently moved a no-confidence motion against party-elected representatives in the committee, which was gross indiscipline on their part, he said.

The dismissed officials comprised Sharma, the party’s district spokesperson; Pathania, the district convenor of Swachh Bharat Abhiyan and P Bose, the SC Morcha district president of the party. They were issued show-cause notices by the party’s disciplinary committee and directed to submit replies within four days but the officials did not submit any proper reply, the spokesman said.