Jammu: Intruder in Farooq Abdullah's house shot dead

In a security breach, a man forcibly drove into the residence of former chief ministers Farooq Abdullah and his son Omar Abdullah here on Saturday and vandalised the house before being shot dead by CRPF personnel guarding the premises, police said.

Farooq Abdullah, a Lok Sabha member from the Srinagar constituency, was on his way to Srinagar from the national capital, where he has been attending the ongoing Monsoon Session of Parliament, when the security breach was reported.

After news of the incident spread, dozens of relatives of the youth reached the spot and staged protests demanding an inquiry. They even burnt tyres and raised slogans, officials said.

The incident happened on Saturday morning at Bhatindi in the outskirts of the Jammu city when the intruder, identified as Syeed Murfad Shah, who would have turned 26 next month, rammed his XUV car into the front gate of the former chief ministers' house and continued to drive recklessly and reached the inner garden, according to witnesses.

Both Farooq and Omar Abdullah are Z-plus protectees. Director General of Police SP Vaid said a case was registered and an inquiry was being conducted into the breach of security. "We are looking into the case and trying to ascertain the motive," he said.

Senior Superintendent of Police (Jammu) said the man had made a forcible entry and refused to stop despite repeated warnings. One policeman was also injured in the scuffle, he said.

Reacting to the incident, Abdullah told PTI, "It is very unfortunate that such an incident has happened and speaks volumes about the security situation in the state. Police must investigate the motive of the youth."

After the body was taken to the Government Medical College hospital for postmortem, about 200 acquaintances of the deceased assembled there and prevented doctors from performing the autopsy for several hours, asking why an "innocent unarmed person" was killed, officials said. Another large group of protesters blocked the main road at Chinore, they said.