FAROOQ’S SECURITY BREACHED

A man drove into the residence of Farooq Abdullah, vandalised the house before being killed.

A 25-year-old man was shot dead by security personnel on Saturday as he allegedly tried to forcibly enter former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah’s home at Bhatindi in winter capital Jammu.

Identified as Syed Murfad Shah, a resident of Chinore locality in the outskirts of Jammu, drove his black XUV into the heavily fortified residence of Abdullah before being shot dead by a sentry of the Central Reserve Police Force, the officials said.

DGP Shesh Paul Vaid said that preliminary investigations have revealed that Shah was suffering from mental illness. “I’m told some medical prescription have been found in the car he was driving which indicates towards his facing some psychological issues. But this is a matter of investigation,” he told this newspaper.

However, Shah’s dozens of relatives, friends, neighbours and other acquaintances staged protests demanding an inquiry into the incident. On hearing about the incident, his father and other family members reached the spot and demanded a probe into the incident, witnesses said.

Later when the body was taken to government hospital for post-mortem, about 200 acquaintances of the deceased assembled there. They tried to prevent doctors from performing an autopsy for several hours and asked why an “innocent unarmed person” was killed.

IGP (Jammu range) SD Singh Jamwal said Shah gatecrashed into the house, had a scuffle with CRPF personnel and attempted to snatch a rifle from an officer before he was killed.