A prominent leader of the Rashtriya Swayamasevak Sangh (RSS) succumbed to his bullet injuries after he and his personal security officer (PSO) were shot by unidentified gunmen in Jammu and Kashmir’s volatile Kishtwar township on Tuesday, 9 April. The incident took place right ahead of the first phase of Lok Sabha elections.
RSS leader Chandrakant Sharma, who had played key role in eliminating militancy while simultaneously working with the State’s Health Department, was attacked inside the hospital where he worked as a medical assistant.
Sharma’s PSO was declared dead after he was brought to the District Hospital of Kishtwar, while Sharma died later while under treatment at Government Medical College in Jammu.
Senior BJP leader and former Kishtwar MLA Sunil Kumar Sharma told journalists after stepping out of the Government Medical College that Sharma had succumbed to his bullet injuries.
Attacked in Broad Daylight
The attack happened in broad daylight at district headquarters of Kishtwar, over 200 km from the state’s winter capital of Jammu.
Earlier, IGP Jammu Manish Kumar Sinha had told The Quint that Sharma was attacked at the entrance of District Hospital.
“Mr Sharma has sustained gunshots in his abdomen and he has been operated upon at the District Hospital of Kishtwar. He is critical but his PSO Constable Rajinder has died on the spot and the assailants have taken away his AK-47 rifle.”IGP Jammu Manish Kumar Sinha
After a surgery, Sharma was flown for specialised medical treatment from District Hospital Kishtwar to Government Medical College in Jammu where he is said to have died.
Curfew Imposed After Tensions
As the roads emptied and shopkeepers, schools and government offices were shut down, hundreds of RSS and BJP followers gathered at the hospital and began staging a protest.
The IGP said that a curfew has been imposed in Kishtwar, while the internet has been shut down, as there were apprehensions of a law and order situation.
Authorities have called in the Army, which conducted a flag march through the district headquarters.
Eyewitnesses Recall How Things Unfolded
Officials quoting eyewitnesses said that two unidentified persons in Pathan suits and wearing jackets accosted Sharma at 12:30 pm when he was on duty close to the District Hospital.
Suddenly they took out their guns and opened fire. Even as Sharma, the apparent key target, sustained multiple gunshots, officials maintained that he was critical and still under treatment earlier.
The assailants had decamped with the gun of his PSO, who died on the spot.
No one has claimed responsibility for the attack as of yet.
Sharma, according to officials, had played key role to help police and security forces in eradicating armed insurgency in Chenab valley, spread across Kishtwar, Doda and Ramban districts of Jammu division.
Previously, on 2 November 2018, suspected militants had attacked and shot dead BJP State Secretary Anil Parihar and his brother, Ajit Parihar, in Kishtwar while they were returning from their shop to their home at the district headquarters.
Senior officials, including IGP Jammu, were boarding a helicopter to visit Kishtwar when this report was filed amid imposition of curfew on Kishtwar town.
In the first phase, polling is scheduled to held on 11 April for Jammu-Poonch Lok Sabha seat. With the Minister of State in Prime Minister’s Office Dr Jitendra Singh contesting as the BJP candidate, polling is scheduled on April 18 in Doda-Udhampur constituency, comprising six districts including Kishtwar.
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)