The police shot dead a man who breached the security at the private residence of Farooq Abdullah, a sitting MP, here on Saturday and forcibly tried to enter his bedroom on the first floor after hitting a flower pot on the head of a CRPF officer.
Abdullah, a sitting Lok Sabha member from the Srinagar constituency, is away in New Delhi for the ongoing Parliament session.
The intruder, whose father runs a gun shop, gatecrashed into the sprawling residence of Abdullah in a black SUV at about 10.30 am and then entered the main building.
The residence is shared by Farooq Abdullah and his son Omar Abdullah, both former chief ministers of J&K who are “Z+” protectees. Though both of them were not in Jammu at the time of the incident, it is being seen as a major breach of security.
Heavy security of CRPF and J&K Police is deployed at their residence in the Bathindi locality near the Sunjwan military station.
Talking to this correspondent over telephone from New Delhi, Farooq Abdullah said that an in-depth investigation should be held into the incident as the intruder identified as Maroof Ahmad of Mendhar in Poonch had the layout plan of “my house as a result of which he reached the bedroom”.
Farooq Abdullah described it as the first attack of its type at his residence since the beginning of terrorism in the state. Farooq said the intruder probably had the knowledge of his proposed visit to Jammu to meet his secretary whose mother passed away recently.
Police said that the CRPF guards shot at the intruder when he did not respond to warnings and threw a flower pot on the head of an assistant sub-inspector of police on the first floor lobby of the house. The man died on the spot and his body was sent to the Government Medical College for postmortem.
Senior Superintendent of Police, Jammu, Vivek Gupta reached Farooq Abdullah’s residence where forensic experts were also summoned. Top brass of the CRPF and the security wing of police also reached there.
Relatives of the killed man too reached there. They expressed anger against the police for killing the unarmed man instead of trying to overpower him. According to the police, however, the intruder was unarmed but became violent after he entered the house.
Talking to reporters, SSP Jammu Vivek Gupta said, “The intruder breached the main gate and went inside. He had a scuffle with the duty officers there. A duty officer was also injured. After that, he entered the residence. There has been some damage to the articles there. Subsequently, he was shot dead.”
Abdullah’s son and former CM Omar Abdullah took to Twitter and said the security men were carrying out “anti-sabotage” checks at the Bathindi house.
“I am aware of the incident that took place at the residence my father & I share in Bhatindi, Jammu. Details are sketchy at the moment. Initial reports suggest an intruder was able to gain entry through the front door & in to the upper lobby of the house,” Omar tweeted.