Driver booked after 13 passengers found in his vehicle in J&K's Udhampur

A driver was booked on Sunday after 13 passengers were found secretly travelling in his mini-load carrier in Udhampur district of Jammu and Kashmir, police said.

A police party stopped the mini-load carrier for checking at Motorshed Chenani on Jammu-Srinagar national highway and found the 13 passengers, including five women hiding inside, a police spokesman said.

He said they were on their way to their home in Ramban district.

The driver of the vehicle Abdul Rashid of Parnote village of Ramban district was booked under relevant sections of the law for violating the lockdown orders issued by the district magistrate, the spokesman said, adding that all the 13 passengers and the driver were taken into custody and later shifted to Public Health Centre in Chenani for medical examination.

In similar incident, police booked Girdhari Lal, a resident of Mandal village of Bari Brahmana, for hiding his travel history in Samba district.

Lal was travelling from Pune to his native village in a truck carrying essential commodities and had not disclosed his travel history to the authorities on entering the Union Territory and crossed various red zones thereby putting the lives of others at risk, the spokesman said.

Separately, he said two youths from Bandipora township of north Kashmir were intercepted in Ghagwal area of Samba while they were on foot towards their homes.

Both of them were sent to a quarantine centre in Ghagwal, he said.