Army Jawan Arrested At Srinagar Airport With Grenades Blames ‘ His Boss Major Sahib’
SRINAGAR: Bhopal Mukhiya of the Jammu and Kashmir Rifles is posted at Uri. The Army personnel was on his way to Delhi and was caught at security check with the grenades. He has allegedly told the police and security forces that he was directed by one “Major Sahib” to take the grenades to Delhi.
“The soldier was to board a flight to Delhi. He has been detained and lodged at the local police station for questioning,” police said. News agency ANI, the 17 Jammu and Kashmir Rifles jawan, who hails from Darjeeling, initially said that he was unaware of the grenades in his possession. Later, he retracted his statement and claimed that he was taking grenades to Delhi to cause ‘blast in rivers’ to catch fish.
On being pressed further, the jawan admitted the involvement of junior-level officers and said he was just a ‘courier’ for grenades. According to a TV Chanel a police officer as saying: “We are not taking his claim at face value and we are investigating based on evidence.”
“Necessary action will be taken against him. I am heading to the airport now,” Jammu and Kashmir DGP SP Vaid told the media in Srinagar.
The jawan, Bhupal Mukhiya , serves near the Line of Control in the Uri sector of Kashmir.The police say he was about to take a chartered flight to Delhi when a baggage check revealed the grenades. He was jointly interrogated by the police and the Central Reserve Police Force or CRPF.
“He said he was directed by Major Sahib to carry the grenades to Delhi, where some person would pick up the consignment,” said a senior police officer.”We are not taking his claim at face value and we are investigating based on evidence,” the officer added.
Sources say the police are investigating where the grenades were taken from.Srinagar is one of the most heavily guarded airports in the country with multiple points of checking. The soldier had entered the airport without being stopped because there is no checking for the army at the entry.
Bhupal Mukhiya is from Darjeeling in West Bengal, the police say.
It was in Uri, where he serves, that 19 soldiers were killed last year in an attack on an army camp, in one of the worst terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir in recent years.
The arrest comes a day after a high-profile visit by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who opened the Chenani-Nashri all-weather tunnel near Udhampur in Jammu. Hours after the event, a policeman was killed and 14 security personnel injured in a grenade attack by militants in Srinagar.
