'Hardcore criminal' detained under PSA in J-K's Samba

A "hardcore criminal" was detained under the stringent Public Safety Act (PSA) in Jammu and Kashmir's Samba district, police said Tuesday.

Mohammad Irshad alias Shadu, a resident of Bari Brahmana, is named in nine FIRs registered between 2010 and 2018 in various police station and the charges against him include attempt to murder, rape and house-trespassing, a police spokesman said.

He said the district magistrate, Samba, issued the warrant of his detention under the PSA recently, and accordingly a special police team managed to nab him from the Bari Brahmana area. Subsequently, he was lodged at sub-jail Hiranagar.

"The accused was absconding and was evading arrest for a long time," the spokesman said, adding that his detention under the PSA was necessary to curtail his activities.

The PSA is an administrative detention law that allows detention without charge or trial for up to two years in some cases.

"He was a great threat to the life and liberty of the people, particularly in the Bari Brahmana area. He is a habitual criminal and his activities are prejudicial to the maintenance of law and order," the spokesman said.

His motive was not only to create terror among the peaceful and law abiding citizens of the town but also to form a criminal gang by encouraging criminal-minded men to join him, he added.