Terrorists abduct SP, friends in Punjab
PATHANKOT: Punjab was on high alert after four armed terrorists in military-style clothing abducted and assaulted a superintendent of police and his two acquaintances on Friday morning in Pathankot.
Gurdaspur SP (headquarters) Salwinder Singh said he was assaulted before being set free while the terrorists slit the throat of his friend, jeweller Rajesh Verma, and dumped him and cook Mohan Lal near Damtal village in Himachal Pradesh. Verma was admitted to a private hospital.
The daring abduction came five months after the Dinanagar terror attack in Gurdaspur district.
The body of a driver, identified as Ikagar Singh, with stab wounds was found near the spot from where the police officer and his companions were abducted. 2km away. Police said the terrorists murdered the driver and took away his vehicle. But they abandoned it following a tyre burst. A preliminary probe pointed towards the involvement of Pakistani terrorists. Police sources said the terrorists’ main objective was apparently a “targeted killing”.it is learnt that the SP was recently transferred as assistant commandant, 75 Battalion, Punjab Armed Police, Jalandhar, and was on his joining-time break when Friday’s incident happened.
He reportedly said he had gone to Kolian village in Narot Jaimal Singh block along the India-pakistan border with Verma and Lal to pay obeisance at a religious place. When they were returning, four men signalled them to stop their vehicle, an SUV. Verma told investigators the men were holding automatic weapons, probably AK-47S, and their early 20s, three were cleanshaven, while the fourth one had a moustache, he said. The SP said the four men barged into his vehicle and overpowered them.
After blindfolding them, the militants drove away the SP’S vehicle and pushed him out later. The SP approached a villager, who helped him contact Gurdaspur SSP GS Toor. Police later recovered the abandoned SUV at Tejpur village near Dhira, adjacent to Pathankot