Title - Armymen ransack Kathua station, thrash cops over cellphone charging

About 60 army personnel — in uniform, carrying arms, led by a lieutenant colonel — allegedly stormed the Kathua railway station, abducted a cop and ransacked the police station there on Monday night, all because a head constable had objected after an armyman pulled out the plug of the metal detector to plug in his mobile phone charger. The abducted munshi was later got released, but another police official beaten up by the armymen is reported to be in a critical condition, and the Government Railway Police (GRP) has registered a case of attempt to murder and abduction. Superintendent of police (SP), railways, Shiv Kumar Sharma said, “We have registered a case against Lt Col MU Khan and others.”The incident was sparked off around 10.20pm on Monday, when sepoy Deepak Kumar of the 225 Field Regiment, based at Janglote in Kathua, came to the railway station to board the Jhelum Express. He allegedly removed the plug of the doorframe metal detector placed at the entry point, and plugged in his mobile charger.When the security guard, GRP head constable Deepak Kumar, got his charger removed, the sepoy beat him up, leaving him bleeding, said the SP. The other police personnel overpowered the sepoy and took him to GRP station. However, before that he had managed to call his unit, the SP claimed. Around 11pm, a truckload of about 60 army personnel led by Lt Col Khan surrounded the station; some of them smashed the windows and assaulted sentry Jarnail Singh.

As people at the railway station started running helter-skelter, some special police officers (SPOs) came to the rescue of their colleagues but were beaten up. “The army personnel then lifted munshi Ghulam Nabi and took him to their unit at Janglote,” said the SP.

The matter was brought to the notice of the SSP, who talked to senior officers of the regiment and the munshi was released. Sentry Jarnail Singh is in critical condition, said the railway police. The army refused to comment.