‘RAHUL BHAT’S FAMILY SOUGHT HIS TRANSFER BUT NO ACTION WAS TAKEN’

JAMMU: The family of Rahul Bhat, a Kashmiri Pandit staff who was shot dead by militants in Jammu and Kashmir’s Budgam district, had sought his transfer from Chadoora citing threat to his life, but the administration took no action, his colleagues claimed on Saturday.

Bhat was gunned down by terrorists inside the tehsil office in Chadoora of J&K’S Budgam.

Protesting his killing, the Kashmiri Pandit migrant employees said Bhat’s wife had met the officials of the administration a few times to plead for his transfer. “When Deepak Chand (another Kashmiri pandit) was killed (in October last year), there was a threat perception. He (Bhat) thought that something may happen to him as well. His wife had gone to them (officials) two to three times but there was no action,” Sanjay Kumar, a Kashmiri Pandit employee, told news agency PTI. He said Bhat’s wife had pleaded that he be shifted to the deputy commissioner’s office in Budgam.

Another employee, who requested anonymity, claimed that Bhat was not provided with any security despite the issue being raised by his wife.

“Did they not have intelligence inputs about the attack?” the protesting employees questioned.

Budgam DC Shahbaz Ahmad Mirza, did not respond to calls for his comments.