Tragic Discovery: Bodies of Two Missing SPOs Found in Jammu and Kashmir
Bodies of Missing Special Police Officers Recovered
Jammu: Officials reported the grim discovery of two Special Police Officers (SPOs) whose bodies were found shot in Jammu and Kashmir's Kishtwar district on Thursday.
The deceased SPOs had been unaccounted for since Wednesday and were located in the remote Dachhan region of the district.
The absence of their service weapons has raised concerns about a potential terrorist involvement in their deaths.
Identified as Babi Chand, aged 57, and Rashpal Kumar, aged 45, both were assigned to the Special Operations Group (SOG) in Kiyar village. They went missing while en route to an Army post at Dharna-Marwah.
Local residents reported hearing gunfire in the vicinity of Kiyar and Derana shortly before the SPOs disappeared.
According to officials, the two were part of a patrol team heading to a temporary base of the 17 Rashtriya Rifles in the Basnan area of Inderwal, a location known for its limited mobile connectivity.
In response to their disappearance, a large-scale search operation was initiated, involving police, CRPF, and Army personnel to find the missing officers.
Security forces were deployed in the surrounding regions to determine their last known locations and the circumstances of their vanishing.
It is worth noting that another SPO, Bashir Ahmed, who went missing along with his service rifle on October 14 in Kishtwar, was found dead near his home two days later. He was 55 years old and had been stationed at the Pedil police post since 2025.
The discovery of the two SPOs' bodies comes just a day after a terrorist attack on a CRPF team in Akhran, near Mir Bazar in Kulgam district, which resulted in injuries to three personnel. One of the injured was critically hurt and later airlifted to the Army's 92 base hospital in Srinagar.
The condition of the other two injured CRPF members is reported to be stable, as per medical staff. Jammu and Kashmir's Lieutenant Governor, Manoj Sinha, visited the hospital on Wednesday evening to check on the injured soldier's condition.
Sinha promised all necessary support to the injured and emphasized that those behind the attack would face justice.