Two Special Police Officers attached to the Jammu and Kashmir Police’s Special Operations Group have gone missing in the higher reaches of Dachhan, Kishtwar district. Police and the Army’s Rashtriya Rifles (RR) are conducting a joint search in the remote area.
The missing SPOs are Babi Chand (57) and Rashpal Kumar (45), who were posted at the SOG camp in Kiyar village. Officials said they were travelling to an Army post at Dharna-Marwah—also referred to as Dherna or Deharna in some reports—to relieve Rashtriya Rifles personnel at a Temporary Operating Base (TOB). They did not arrive.
Reports of gunshots as contact was lost
Their mobile phones were initially reachable but were later switched off. The area has poor mobile connectivity and is difficult to access; parts of the route pass through dense forest and must be covered on foot.
Reports say the two SPOs were on patrol with 17 RR for area domination. Locals reportedly heard gunshots in the forest between Kiyar and Derana/Deharna around the time contact was lost. Some accounts say the officers were carrying their service weapons when they went missing, but this has not been confirmed in the information available.
Search expands across remote terrain
The police and Rashtriya Rifles launched a search across the surrounding mountainous and forested terrain. By Thursday (November 12), the operation was in its second day and had been expanded. Additional personnel, drones and sniffer dogs were deployed to search inaccessible stretches and check trails and remote pockets. Some reports have also mentioned CRPF involvement. No trace of the two SPOs had been reported so far.
Officials have said it would be premature to connect the disappearance to militant activity before the facts are established. The incident has renewed attention to security in Kishtwar’s remote belt, where a residual militant presence has been reported in higher forested areas despite counter-insurgency operations that have eliminated several active terrorists in recent years. The terrain remains an operational challenge.
The search is ongoing as security forces work to locate the two SPOs and determine the circumstances of their disappearance. Further details are awaited.
