Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said on Monday that attempts were being made to give a “political colour” to the killings in Kathua and questioned the police for allowing the BJP MLA and leader of Opposition to visit the bereaved families while preventing the deputy chief minister from going there.

He told the Legislative Assembly that the police did not allow Deputy Chief Minister Surinder Choudhary to visit Kathua to offer his condolences to the families of the three civilians found murdered under mysterious circumstances. However, Leader of the Opposition and BJP MLA Sunil Sharma was permitted to visit the area, he said.

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Speaking on the killings and the fashion show at Gulmarg during zero hour amid noisy scenes in the House, the chief minister said the deputy chief minister had decided on Saturday to visit the area on Sunday. He also informed the administration about his visit. However, on Sunday, the number of security personnel around his residence was increased and he was conveyed that his visit to the villages may not be feasible.

“When he rang me up, I told him to get in touch with the IGP Jammu but he eventually met SP Kathua who said the visit may have law and order issues,” Omar said, adding, “We decided not to go ahead with the visit.”

“However, I fail to understand how the LoP was allowed to go there if the situation was such that the deputy chief minister couldn’t,” the chief minister asked.

He also demanded appropriate action against those who assaulted Independent MLA from Bani, Rameshwar Singh, during his visit to a hospital to meet the family members of the deceased whose bodies were retrieved from a waterfall in a remote area on Saturday, three days after they went missing from a marriage function.

Later, Sharma told the House that he has been talking to Home Minister Amit Shah on the issue for the last three days. “My visit to Kathua was not meant to politicise the issue,” Sharma added.

Bodies of Varun Singh (14), his paternal uncle Yogesh Singh (32), and maternal uncle Darshan Singh (40) were found in the Ishu nullah in the remote Malhar area in the higher reaches of Kathua on Saturday-two days after they went missing. Bodies of two others were found in the district a few days ago in February, members said.

Amidst noisy scenes at a fashion show at Gulmarg, the chief minister said his government would never permit such an event.

He was speaking about the controversy over a fashion event held at the world-famous ski resort of Gulmarg during the holy Ramadan. Many MLAs, including Omar, termed the event “obscene” and “outrageous”. “We have already ordered an inquiry into it, but preliminary facts revealed that it was a private four-day event organised by a private party in a private hotel. The fashion show was held on March 7, and certain things have come to the fore, which hurt the sentiments of the people who are not wrong,” the chief minister informed the Assembly.