"We were blindfolded, our hands tied behind our backs by four to five terrorists and they threatened to kill us if we tried to look up," Gurdaspur superintendent of police Salwinder Singh, whose vehicle was forcibly taken away by the heavily-armed terrorists, said on Tuesday.
Armed with AK 47 rifles, the terrorists initially had no clue that he was a police officer. It was only when his gunman called him and the terrorists picked up his mobile that they realised the person they had caught was a senior officer, Singh said.
After they were blindfolded, the terrorists took two of his three mobiles and fled with his vehicle. The hooter in his vehicle also made it clear to the terrorist that the vehicle belonged to a police officer.
"They came back to kill me but by then I had freed my hands and moved from the spot," he said.
Asked why he was in civilian clothes and did not have his gunman with him, Salwinder said he was returning after offering prayers at the 'Pir Baba' and that was the reason he chose not to take the police escort.
"Light band karo (turn off the lights)," ordered one of the terrorists, while another asked us to kneel down.
Singh recounted that the terrorists told them 'if you look up, we will shoot you right then', adding that they spoke in Urdu, Punjabi and Hindi.
Since it was dark, we could not make out the exact number of terrorists but it looked like they were four to five in number, he said.
Singh said the terrorists had stopped his vehicle when he, along with his jeweller friend Rajesh Verma and cook Madan Gopal, was returning after paying obeisance at Narot Jaimal Singh in the wee hours of Friday.
"They were carrying AK 47 and a global positioning system device," he said, adding, "We were dumped along with my cook."
"When they came to know that I was an SP, they told Rajesh that you have deceived us and you will have to face consequences," Singh said.
Rajesh was attacked by the terrorists who later dumped him. He is recuperating at a hospital.
Soon after the SP's abduction, the terrorists had attacked the air base.
Asked why he did not resist, the SP said they (militants) were carrying weapons. "What could I have done against four to five people who were armed?" he said.
The SP, who was recently transferred, said he had immediately informed his seniors about his abduction by militants.
"I immediately informed (my seniors) about the incident. After that, the director general of police, assistant director general of police and other senior officers reached Pathankot," he said, adding 'police swung into action and beefed up security at various check-posts'.
Asked if police was initially not believing his story, Singh said, "There is no such thing...I was speaking the truth only. I have got a new life. I know what I have gone through and how I returned."
On investigating agencies questioning him, he said, "Truth has come out. Whatever information I gave was completely correct. Had I engaged into a fight with the terrorists, they would have killed me. I was not carrying any weapon. If my gunman were with me, I could have thought about taking on them," he said.
