Man fakes death to reach home amid lockdown

POONCH — In a script copied from a Bollywood thriller, a man on Tuesday faked his death to reach his home in Saillan village of Surankote in Poonch district along with his three associates, before police caught them.

All the four hailing from Saillan village met in Jammu and conspired to fake death of one of them in order to reach their native village, as the lockdown was in place, official sources said. The accused managed to get death certificate for one of their aides identified as Hakim Din from the casualty department of the Government Medical College, Jammu.

“Dead body shifted from GMC hospital to Bafliaz Saillan. In between the crisis of coronavirus, nobody could disturb them,” reads the letter issued today, veracity of which could not be confirmed.

The letter also mentions name of the driver and the number of ambulance carrying the body.

Sources said that when the ambulance (PB02CQ-6663) was very close to the destination, a police team intercepted it and found the dead man alive. The driver was arrested on the spot while the four civilians were sent for quarantine.

SSP Poonch, Ramesh Angral confirmed the arrest of the driver.

“A case under FIR number 45/2020 under sections 188, 269, 420, 109 IPC has been registered against them in police station Surankote. The driver along with the four occupants has been sent to quarantine,” he said.