Some unknown persons have stolen a service rifle of a Special Operation Group (SOG) man from his family quarter at Tral area in south Kashmir’s Pulwama district last evening.Official sources told GNS that policeman Latif Ahmad Gojri who is working with SOG Tral reported his senior officers that his rifle AK-47 along with a pouch and few magazines had gone missing from his residence. “The family quarter of the policeman is just 100 meters far away from SOG camp in the area”.They said that the SOG man who was appointed as SPO in 2000 and was recently converted into follower in the department was immediately placed under suspension.
A senior police official while confirmed the incident to GNS on Tuesday said that the policeman was detained for questioning, besides it, police team arrested at least eight suspected persons from different localities in the area.“A case has been registered in this regard and the departmental inquiry has also been initiated. The facts of the incident would be revealed during the course of investigations,” the official said.On July 21, a service rifle of a policeman Fayaz Ahmad of 71 IR 2nd battalion who was posted at a shrine in Awantipora had gone missing.On August 1, Militants after barged inside the police post guarding the house of a sessions judge Sujat Ali Khan at Qamarabad in Qamarwari area of Srinagar city and decamped with an AK-47 rifle along with 02 magazines and 20 rounds.Meanwhile, a senior Home Ministry official told GNS that authorities beefed up the security in all major volatile parts of the Kashmir Valley following the recent rifle snatching incidents and sudden spurt in militant related activities across Valley. (GNS)