JAMMU: Two Special Police Officers (SPOs) went missing from the higher reaches of Dachhan in Jammu and Kashmir’s Kishtwar district on Wednesday, prompting security forces to launch a massive joint search operation to trace them, officials said.
The missing personnel have been identified as Babi Chand (57) and Rashpal Kumar (45), both of whom were posted with the Special Operations Group (SOG) of the local police at their Kiyar village in Dachhan, the officials said.
They said the two SPOs were travelling from Kiyar camp to an Army post at Dharna-Marwah when they failed to reach their destination. Their mobile phones were initially reachable but were later switched off, raising concerns about their whereabouts.
Following their disappearance, a massive search operation was launched jointly by the police and the Army’s Rashtriya Rifles to locate the missing personnel.
Security teams were deployed in the surrounding areas, including difficult and mountainous forest terrain, to establish their whereabouts and ascertain the circumstances surrounding their disappearance, the officials said.
They said it would be premature to link the incident to any militant activity until the facts emerge.
However, the disappearance has drawn attention to the security situation in the mountainous district, which has witnessed a series of terror-related incidents over the past several years. (PTI)
