JAMMU, Aug 26: A soldier of the territorial army and a police constable have been arrested for subversive activities involving militants, the third such revelation in Jammu and Kashmir state where a two decade violence has killed tens of thousands but now, authorities say, violence is on a decline.
Constable Abdul Rahim posted at Ramban, territorial army jawan Mohammad Hanief, suspected militant Abdul Rashid alias Kaka and a civilian Aurangzeb were arrested on Saturday in Rajouri district and a chinese grenade was found from their possession, wire agency PTI quoted a senior police official as saying.
“With the help of the militant, Aurangzeb approached the constable and the jawan to purchase the Chinese grenade,” the police officer said.
During interrogation, Aurangzeb told police that few days back he had a tiff with his brother Javed Iqbal over a family related issue.
“Aurangzeb had planned to plant the grenade in Javed’s shop to prove that he was involved in militant activities,” the police official said.
Aurangzeb informed the police team about the involvement of the militant, jawan and constable in his plan, following which they were arrested.
All the accused are likely to be shifted to Joint Interrogation Centre for further interrogation in the matter.
This is for the third time that police or personnel of the security forces have been arrested for being involved in a nexus with the militants. On July 21, Inspector General of Police, S.M Sahai claimed to have solved over a dozen militant attacks in Srinagar over a period of 18 months with the arrest of a police constable besides a released militant.
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Constable Abdul Rashid Shigan alias Umar Mukhtar and Imtiyaz Ahmed Gojri were running the Islamic Movement of Kashmir, an independent militant group which is involved in the killing of four policemen, a political worker besides attacks on a minister, the civil secretariat and an Army camp in the city.
On June 16, Jammu and Kashmir police said it had arrested three constables, Mukhtar Sheikh, Mohammed Abbas and Riyaz Ahmed, for their alleged links with militants. Subsequently, another cop, Muhammad Illyass who was working with the investigation wing of the state police was also arrested on the same charges.
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Police claimed that the four constables were on a mission to orchestrate attacks to create chaos in the state, where, authorities say, militancy-related violence was on a decline. The top brass of the police have asked the intelligence officials to screen policemen who have had any links with the militants in the past.
Also Read: Kashmir Police chief orders screening of ‘dubious’ cops
