Srinagar: In a brazen move, a senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader in Kashmir has sought the removal of two district police chiefs on the grounds that they were targeting the party leaders on corruption charges and were not cooperating with them.
In the letter, which has gone viral on social media, Muhammad Maqbool War, who was BJP’s candidate in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls from the Baramulla segment, has claimed that senior superintendents of police of Baramulla and Sopore were singling out BJP leaders on corruption charges. The letter is addressed to Union home minister Amit Shah.
M.M. War’s letter to Amit Shah.
As per M.M. War’s letterhead, he is a member of BJP’s state executive committee and national executive member of the party’s Kissan Morcha.
He also claims that he is also in-charge of the party in north Kashmir and Prabhari of Baramulla district.
In the letter, M.M. War has claimed that these police officers were targeting BJP leaders for the past one month and were not investigating leaders of the National Conference and Peoples Democratic Party and other big fishes, who, he said, should have been behind bars.
The BJP leader further writes that they are working round-the-clock for the benefit and betterment of the party, but these officials were not cooperating with the party leaders and didn’t respond to their calls.
Seeking their transfer, the BJP leader has demanded that only officers who will cooperate with the party leaders should be posted in lieu of them.
He has even proposed the names of two police officers as their replacement.
While Amod Ashok Nagpure, an IPS officer of the 2013 batch, is SSP Baramulla, Shabir Nawab, an officer of Jammu & Kashmir Police Service (JKPS) of the 2001 batch, is SSP Sopore.
The BJP leader has sought the transfer of these officers days after police arrested Ashiq Ganie aka Ashiq MLA, who is affiliated with BJP, on charges of extortion.
According to police, Ashiq MLA and two others affiliated with a political party approached a person to get his brother released from custody and demanded Rs 5 lakh.
The person sold his land and provided them Rs 5 lakh to get his brother released, the police said.
“However, the accused persons couldn’t get the detenue released from custody thus the complainant demanded his money back from the accused persons. But the accused persons demanded more money from the complainant and warned that if they did not pay the amount they will face serious repercussions and will get his brother booked in multiple cases,” reads a handout issued by Baramulla police.
Ashiq MLA is the municipal councillor of Baramulla town.
Earlier this month, police arrested another BJP leader Mudasir Ahmad Wani on extortion charges.
Wani and his accomplice Yasir Rashid Rather had demanded Rs 1 lakh from a family to get a PSA detainee released.
The PSA detainee was released by police after J&K high court quashed his detention.
However, the BJP leader threatened his family that they will get him re-detained if they didn’t cough up money.
In a damage-control move, the BJP has distanced itself from its leader’s letter, saying the party has nothing to do with views expressed by him.
In a statement shared with media through his Whatsapp group, BJP’s spokesman Altaf Thakur said the party has nothing to do with the views expressed by him in the letter.
Talking to The Wire, BJP’s J&K unit general secretary (organisation) Ashok Koul said that he has spoken to the BJP leader over the issue.
“He had nothing to say in his defence,” Koul said, adding that the party has nothing to do with his views.
