A Border Security Force (BSF) jawan who went missing from his unit headquarters in Srinagar has been traced in Delhi while travelling to his home in Uttar Pradesh, officials said on Friday.
The trooper, Constable Sugam Choudhary, was part of ‘C’ Company of the 60th Battalion and had gone missing from the Panthachowk area of Srinagar on Thursday evening. Following his disappearance, the BSF and local police launched a large-scale search operation and registered a missing report at the Panthachowk Police Station.
Search teams scanned nearby locations including bus stands, taxi stands and the Nowgam Railway Station but were unable to trace him initially. Later, a senior BSF officer confirmed that the constable had been located in Delhi.
He was found travelling towards his home without proper permission, the officer stated. A departmental inquiry has been initiated to look into the matter. The officer also ruled out any subversive motive behind the incident.
Further details will emerge once the trooper’s statement is recorded.
This development comes amid heightened security measures across Jammu and Kashmir following the April 22 terror attack in Pahalgam, in which 26 civilians were killed by Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorists.
Security forces continue to intensify counter-terror operations across the Union Territory, targeting terrorists, their overground workers and sympathisers to dismantle the terror ecosystem.
