Kelzang Wangchuk | Samdrupjongkhar

The policeman who was alleged to have stabbed a 22-year-old man in Samdrupjongkhar was detained at the quarter guard (a confinement cell for military personnel) yesterday.

The incident occurred near the Food Corporation of Bhutan’s (FCB) office around 8 pm on April 27 when the victim and his friend were returning home after dropping their friend.

According to sources, the suspect and his friend were sent to attend a battery case near the FCB office after receiving a complaint from a man who claimed that he was hit by another man on his head around 8pm.

Upon reaching the scene, the suspect and his friend found that a group of men were fighting. They also learned that one of the group members had hit the complainant on his head with an empty beer bottle.

The policeman saw two men walking along a footpath and asked them to stop as he suspected them to be involved in the battery case and were trying to abscond the scene.

The victim and his friend told the suspect that they went to drop their friend and were returning home when he questioned them. The suspect had suspected the duo had taken drugs and tried to frisk them.

Sources said the suspect tried to threaten the duo with a knife as they tried to attack him when he was trying to frisk them. “The duo were also under influence of alcohol,” said the source.

“It was an accident. The policeman hit the victim’s head because the victim and his friends tried to snatch the knife. The suspect did not hit the victim intentionally and used the knife for self-defence,” the source said. “The policeman was carrying a knife because he attended the case straight after doing some work in his garden.”

However, police would initiate a court of inquiry, with a tribunal appointed to investigate the matter and decide whether a court-martial is warranted.

Meanwhile, the victim’s relatives formally compromised and withdrew the case yesterday.