First in Jammu, cop’s gun snatched

Motorbike borne Policeman attacked on flyover; one held

SUMIT SHARMA

JAMMU: In a first incident of its kind, a cop was late Saturday night robbed of his service weapon –an AK 47 –after motorcycle borne youth hit him on the head and later poured chilli powder in his eyes.
The Police late night arrested a youth, believed to be one of the three assailants, and a high alert was sounded across the town to nab those who escaped with the weapon. The cop was removed to the Governmental Medical College Hospital where doctors attended on him for head injury and eye burns, while officers including SSP Jammu Dr Sunil Gupta rushed to the Nawabad Police station to interrogate the youth who Police were able to nab.
The incident happened at the flyover at the point of it’s descend for Dogra Chowk opposite to the Press Club building. The cop was biking back home after a VIP duty was apparently being followed by three youth who heckled him down when they found the area free of any traffic in the near distance. Another police person who was coming from behind, just as matter of coincidence, is believed to have proved as a providential he was able to catch hold of one of the assailants when the other two ran away without causing further harm to the cop already heckled down.
Fifty-year-old Selection Grade Constable Mohammad Hanief of Jammu and Kashmir Armed Police was on VIP duty with Maulana Syed Akhter of Delhi, who was a state guest in Jammu. After accompanying his protected VIP to the State Guest House where he was staying for the night, Mohammad Hanief was on a motorbike way back home to Belicharana on the south bank of Tawi when the assailants attacked him at Mandir-Masjid point.
As per the preliminary details, the assailants, who could have been more than three, were apparently following Hanief from a distance and attacked him when they found it appropriate. They also wanted to run away with his motorbike but then another cop who was coming from the same direction is believed to have saved the situation.