Gurdaspur: Home guard survives after hiding in police station toilet

A home guard with Punjab Police deployed at the Dinanagar police station survived the terrorist attack by hiding in toilet for the entire duration of the 11-hour encounter.

A home guard with Punjab Police deployed at the Dinanagar police station survived the terrorist attack by hiding in toilet for the entire duration of the 11-hour encounter.

The cop, identified as Jai Chand, could even have been killed after the encounter had ended as members of the team that battled the terrorists trained their guns on him, taking him for a militant, after he was discovered.
His presence in the police station's toilet was noticed by some locals, who had gathered on the rooftops after the encounter had ended. An immediate hue and cry was raised and a shell-shocked Chand was brought out by the encounter team.

However, Chand's friend and colleague, also a constable deployed at the Dinanagar police station, Boohar Singh, 40, intervened and saved him by identifying him.

"Since morning, I had looking for Chand as I knew he was at the station when the attack started. The sudden commotion among the crowd after the encounter alerted me and I rushed in to identify Chand, who could have been shot dead by the encounter team," Boohar said.

Till the filing of this report, Chand was still in shock and was being counselled by police officers at the Dinanagar police station.

"I am happy that my brother-in-law has survived the attack in which three cops have been killed. The last 11 hours have been a very difficult period for my sister and our family and we would never be able to forget the trauma we went through," said Pappu, brother-in-law of Chand.