AHMEDABAD: A police sub-inspector from the State Monitoring Cell (SMC) died while trying to catch a vehicle suspected of carrying illegal liquor, in Dasada, Surendranagar, in the early hours on Tuesday. Sub-inspector Jahid Pathan, 50, a resident of Sarkhej in the city, was positioned at a checkpoint near Kathada village of Dasada, when he and another cop were hit by a trailer which had breached the blockade set up to catch illegal liquor stock. A statement by DIG, SMC, Nirlipt Rai, said, "It is with deep regret that we inform of the passing of SMC PSI Javed Pathan, who lost his life in a road accident while pursuing a suspected liquor-carrying vehicle near Dasada, Surendranagar.
The postmortem was completed, and the body will be taken for the last rites." Pathan was buried in Sarkhej in Ahmedabad later on Tuesday afternoon. His burial was attended by a large number of cops including senior police officials.
According to the FIR filed by an SMC head constable K S Jadeja, PSI Pathan had got a tip-off that liquor was being smuggled from Sanchore in Rajasthan in cars via Shankheshwar in Patan to Dasada in Surendranagar. Three teams were deployed to intercept the liquor-laden SUV. Pathan was with two panch witnesses and constable Jadeja.
An SMC statement said, "On Nov 5 at 2.30am, PSI J M Pathan of the SMC team was near Kathada village on the Dasada to Patdi road. They received information that an SUV carrying liquor would be passing through.
The team set up a roadblock beyond Kat.