SRINAGAR: Two cops – one said to be already dismissed, involved in the shooting that led to three killings in Arnia shooting case, have been arrested. They were on the run since November 5, 2021. The arrests were reported from a village in the Kathua district.
The duo was already identified as Sadeeq Choudhary and Bhupinder Singh. Choudhary was already under suspension but police today said he had been dismissed from service in 2019. It was Singh, his colleague who had used his service rifle in the shooting that led to three deaths as one survived injured.
Giving details SSP Jammu, Chandan Kohli, IPS SSP told reporters that in the November 5, firing four persons received bullet injuries out of which two succumbed on the spot while the third person succumbed to his injuries at GMC Jammu. “After the incident accused fled from the spot and dumped the weapon of the offence in a hideout,” he said.
Police registered FIR 77/2021 U/S 302/307IPC, 3/25, 4/25 Arms Act got registered in Police station Arnia and investigation started by a Special Investigation Team (SIT) headed by SP Headquarters, Jammu, Ramnish Gupta.
On November 8, SSP said a piece of information was received that wife of one of the accused Sadeeq Choudhary namely Jaana Bibi had kept the weapon in a hideout. She was questioned thoroughly after which she confessed the crime and led the Police party to the hideout and finally the weapon was recovered from there after all legal formalities.
“Today morning reliable information was received by Special Investigation Team and 3 teams were constituted under SDPO RS Pura, Shabir Khan comprising of Harjeet Singh SHO Arnia, Jaipaul Sharma SHO RS Pura and Sultan Mirza SHO Miran Sahib, which finally zeroed in on accused in the outskirts of Kathua and finally arrested them along with one of their accomplice with the support of Kathua Police. This has been done under the supervision of SP Hqrs Ramnish Gupta.”
The arrested were identified as Sadeeq Chowdhary son of Naseeb Ali, a resident of Arnia; Bhupinder Singh son of Amreek Singh, resident of RS Pura. The two are cops and are the main accused in the case. Police also arrested Gulabuddin @ Ghaia, son of Mareed Ali, a resident of Sarore, Samba who harbouring the accused duo.
From their possession, police said, one revolver along with 10 cartridges was recovered from Singh. Police said four vehicles used in Crime stand recovered, viz Tata Harrier no. JK 02 CQ 7308, Mahindra Thar JK 21 G 9888, Mahindra Scorpio JK 02 BM 3333, Chevrolet Beat JK 02 BA 8375.
On further questioning of the accused police raided the house of the accused Bhupinder Singh and recovered three 12 bore guns, some sharp-edged weapons, 10 gms heroin and 2 Lacs Indian currency.
Subsequently FIR Nos 214/2021 US 3/25,4/25 Arms Act and FIR no 215/2021 US 8/21, 22, 27(a) NDPS Act was lodged at Police station RS Pura and FIR No 79/2021 US 8/21/22 NDPS Act at Police station Arnia.
It is pertinent to mention that one of the accused namely Sadeeq Choudhary was working in the Police department and was dismissed from service and dis-engaged in the year 2019.
Earlier it was known that only two persons were killed in the shooting. Now the police said three persons had been murdered and one survived injured. These included Babar Chowdhary, a history-sheeter, his brother Sabar Chowdhary and Arif Chowdhary were killed, and their associate Parveen Kumar was critically injured in the incident. While Sabar and Arif died on the spot, Babar succumbed to injuries when he was being shifted to a hospital in Punjab for specialised treatment on Sunday.
