Police found that one of them had been shot in the head and the other in the back. It appears that terrorists, lying in ambush in the area, opened fire as they were heading towards the Dharna post to relieve two of their colleagues on duty. They were carrying official INSAS and .303 rifles, which were missing. It is assumed that the assassins also took their weapons after killing them.
According to initial information, the two SPOs were on patrol duty with the Army and were heading towards the Dharna post when they went missing. It was also reported that gunshots were heard in the area during the day. Initially, calls were going through on their mobile phones, but later both phones were switched off, raising serious concern.
When the two SPOs, Rishi Pal Kumar and Bobby Chand, did not return, a search operation was launched. Finally, this morning, their bodies were recovered from the Dharna Top area. A joint search operation by police and security forces has been intensified to apprehend his killers.
Security forces are conducting operations to eliminate remaining terrorists in the remote and forested areas of Kishtwar.
Just a few weeks later, another SPO, 55-year-old Bashir Ahmad, was found dead near his home in Wanipora Trigam, Kishtwar. This was on October 16th. Bashir Ahmad was posted at the Padil police post. While returning home from duty, he disappeared with his government service self-loading rifle (SLR) and magazines. Later, a police investigation revealed that he was murdered by relatives over an ongoing land dispute.
