J&K special cop was just 15 minutes from home. Then he vanished in the woods

Bashir Ahmed, 55, a Special Police Officer (SPO) in Jammu and Kashmir, set out from his house in Trigam village, in the militancy-prone Kishtwar district, carrying his rifle. He was headed to his post in the forests, barely 800 metres from his home.

It was a 12-hour night shift, and he usually returned home between 6 am and 6.30 am the next day.

But on October 15, Bashir did not return. His wife Parveena, 50, and daughter Dilshada, 15, grew anxious. By 8.30 am, with no sign of him, they knocked on the door of his cousin, Ghulam Rasool, who lived nearby.

The family rushed to Bashir’s post, only to learn that he had left for home at his usual time. For the next 24 hours, there was no answer. First, the Police investigators suspected that militants may have abducted him.

The breakthrough, however, came the following day. Tracing signals from his mobile phone, police found Bashir — he was buried in a pit.

And this was no case of kidnapping. He had been murdered, allegedly over a land dispute by his cousin, Bashir Ahmad Dar, and his son, Nazir Ahmed Dar. Police said both men have been arrested.

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The spot where SPO Bashir Ahmed was killed.

The police also uncovered another chilling detail. SPO Bashir had suffered a horrific death. He was buried alive. “He didn’t die because of the injury caused by the hit on his head. He was buried alive,’’ a police officer investigating the case said. “This was shocking. He must have spent those last moments of his life in unbearable agony”.

A missing phone

Recalling that day, Ghulam Rasool said, “We went to his post, only to be told by the policemen there that Bashir had left for home around 6.30 am.”

Pointing out that the post was barely a 15-minute walk from his home, he said the lack of any information about Bashir’s whereabouts had left the family worried.

“As the path to the post passed through forests, we started looking for him in the jungle fearing he may have been attacked by a wild animal.”

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They finally went to the Kishtwar Police Station. Police parties, joined by security forces, immediately fanned out in the area to look for the missing SPO.

“As the deceased had disappeared along with his service weapon, we initially suspected it was a case of abduction by militants,” said Kishtwar Police Station SHO, Firdous Ahmed. He added that the search parties returned to the police station empty-handed on the night of October 15.

Meanwhile, the SPO’s family told police that his mobile phone was also missing, the SHO said.

“We put the number on the tracking device and found that his phone was being switched on and off at frequent intervals,” he said.

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SHO Firdous Ahmed said militants would never have taken the SPO’s mobile phone with them for fear of being tracked by security agencies. “This is why we changed focus,’’ he said. “We decided to thoroughly search the area between his house and the post once again”.

On the morning of October 16, police first found the SPO’s mobile phone lying in the bushes. Then they found his rifle near a nullah, the SHO said.

A few metres away, they noticed freshly dug soil. On digging the spot, they found the SPO’s body buried underneath.

An old dispute

During preliminary investigations, police found that the SPO had earlier been involved in a land dispute with one of his cousins, Bashir Ahmed Dar. But the two had later reached a compromise.

Police decided to question Dar and his son.

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The duo initially denied having seen SPO Bashir Ahmed the day he went missing.

But they broke down after police traced their mobile phone locations to the same place where he had disappeared, officials said.

During detailed questioning, the accused told the police that Bashir Ahmed’s father, Ghulam Mustafa, had sold nearly 40 marla land to his brother, Abdul Aziz.

After Mustafa’s death, Bashir Ahmed claimed his father had not sold the land and filed a court case to reclaim it.

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Relatives intervened and persuaded the cousins to reach a compromise. The land was returned to the SPO, who sold it four-five years ago, police officers said.

On the morning of October 15, Bashir Ahmed was returning home when he came across Dar and his son in the forest.

Seeing him alone, Dar started arguing with him, while Nazir hit him on the back of his head with an iron rod.

As the SPO fell, bleeding, they claimed they stuffed his mouth with stones and soil to prevent him from raising an alarm, a police officer said. They then put him inside the freshly dug pit and buried him alive, he added.

The murder has left the family in shock.

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“We never imagined that a land dispute between two cousins, which had already been settled, would lead to such a gruesome end,” said Ghulam Rasool, a close relative and neighbour.