Woman pilgrim held with loaded pistol at Vaishno Devi, booked

JAMMU: Police arrested a woman pilgrim near the sanctum sanctorum of the cave shrine of Shri Mata Vaishno Devi in Reasi district of Jammu & Kashmir after they found a loaded pistol in her possession.
Police identified the accused as one Jyoti Gupta, who claimed she is a retired police constable from New Delhi, who they intercepted with the pistol and six cartridges during routine checks on the intervening night of March 14-15.
“The licence for the weapon in the possession of Ms Gupta expired a couple of years ago. Katra police are investigating the case further after registering an FIR,” police said. Police also booked one Sanjay Singh, a pilgrim from Uttar Pradesh, after they found two cartridges in his bag near the same area on Monday.
Security remains high in and around the shrine since six pilgrims including a child were killed and 48 others injured in twin explosions set off by terrorists near the Banganga river, 2km from Katra, on way to the Vaishno Devi shrine on July 21, 2003. Security was further tightened around the holy cave shrine after security forces neutralized four terrorists in an encounter in Jammu’s Nagrota on Nov 20, 2020.