J&K Police release six sketches of suspects involved in killing village defence guard

J&K police release sketches of suspects in VDG killing, offer reward; one local arrested for aiding terrorists.

The J&K police on Saturday released six sketches of suspects involved in the killing of a village defence guard (VDG) on April 28 in Udhampur. One local from Kathua has been arrested for “providing logistic support” to non-local terrorists so far.

“On the basis of inputs from (security) agencies and the public, we have prepared five to six sketches of the suspects. Two sketches look identical. There is a possibility that they are two brothers. A reward of Rs 5-10 lakh rupees will be provided to those who help in neutralising them,” Joginder Singh, Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), Udhampur, said.

Mr. Singh said one local from Kathua’s Loha Nathi, who was identified as Javaid, has been arrested for his involvement so far. “He was involved in providing logistic support. We suspect the presence of 12-15 terrorists. There are attempts by our enemy to foment trouble in the area that has been peaceful in the recent past and did not report any such presence. We are hopeful that with the support of locals the area will be peaceful again,” Mr. Singh said.

The police officer said the role of any local in the incident could not be established so far. “There is no concrete evidence suggesting involvement of any local so far,” the SSP said.

One VDG member, Mohammad Sharif, was killed on April 28 when the police and VDG members received a tip-off about the presence of militants in Basantgarh area. Sharif was killed in a shootout. The militants are untraced since then.