Bullet-riddled bodies of two SPOs found in Kishtwar

Srinagar: The bullet-riddled bodies of two Special Police Officers (SPOs) of Jammu and Kashmir Police were recovered from Kishtwar district on Thursday, a day after they went missing from the remote Dachhan area.

The two SPOs have been identified as Babi Chand (57) and Rashpal Kumar (45). They were posted with the Special Operations Group (SOG) of the local police at Kiyar village in Dachhan and had gone missing on Wednesday while travelling from their camp to an Army post at Dharna-Marwah.

Their mobile phones were initially reachable but were later switched off, prompting concerns and prompting an extensive search operation.


"We are investigating the circumstances of the killings and all angles are being probed," a senior official told ET.

Soon after the duo went missing on Wednesday, armed forces rushed reinforcements and deployed specialised teams equipped with drones and sniffer dogs, widening the search across the forested upper reaches of Dachhan. Soon after the bodies were found, operation was expanded to cover a wider area around Kiyar and the route towards Dharna-Marwah to locate the suspects. While drones scanned inaccessible forest stretches, sniffer dogs assisted ground teams in tracking possible movement.

"A massive operation is underway to catch and kill terrorists if there are any in this area," said another official. According to police officials, at least three local militants, including Jehangir Saroori, are active in Kishtwar district.

On October 4, Deputy Commissioner, Kishtwar, Pankaj Kumar Sharma, had urged residents of remote areas of Marwah, Warwan and Dachhan to stand united against terrorism and share timely information about the movement of suspected terrorists with security forces.

"Marwah, Warwan and Dachhan areas have immense tourism potential, but the presence of active militants remains one of the key reasons restricting tourist movement in the region," said Sharma.

Police and the army maintain that despite fresh ceasefire between the Indian and Pakistani Army since February 2021, several infiltrators have managed to cross the Line of Control and International Border and are active in Jammu division and some parts of Kashmir. Foreign infiltrators remain "a major challenge" for the security grid, according to them.