The 21-year-old officer was hired during an extraordinary recruitment drive last year in Kashmir. (Representational image/PTI)
A special police officer of Jammu and Kashmir has saved the lives at least ten security personnel, who would have been killed or wounded in a grenade attack in the Valley. The attack took place in Sopore on Sunday morning, according to The Times of India. The 21-year-old officer, was hired during an extraordinary recruitment drive last year in Kashmir. He was a part of the joint team of CRPF-J&K police squad at Batpora chowk in Sopore.
On the day of the attack, he was sitting in a mobile bulletproof bunker van opposite CRPF battalion premises near the State Bank of India branch. At around 9:37 am, a militant, with his face covered, lobbed a grenade onto his lap. The brave securitymandidn’t panic and swiftly picked up the grenade and threw it on the road. While another special police officer showed the presence of mind and quickly closed the door of the bunker van, as per TOI report.
According to IG (Operations), CRPF, Zulfikar Hasan, soon after the officer threw the grenade it exploded on the road. He said one constable and another SPO had minor injuries. Hasan said if the cop had not displayed such deftness and panicked instead, the grenade may have caused devastating damage. The special police officer saved the lives of 10 troopers, as per TOI.
The hero was given a Rs 25,000 reward while the other cop was given a reward of Rs 10,000 for saving the van by closing its door. The hero, in whose lap the grenade first fell was recommended to J&K Police for a permanent job as a constable. DGP S P Vaid has also immediately accepted the recommendation, the report said.
