Srinagar:
Chief Minister Omar Abdullah silently watched an ugly display of tempers in Jammu and Kashmir Assembly today over the alleged custodial death of National Conference member, Syed Mohammed Yousuf Shah. But he held a press conference immediately after House was adjourned for the day, saying allegations made against him by the Opposition were beneath contempt and that he would sue for defamation.
An angry Mr Abdullah said he was silent because his government had ordered a judicial inquiry into Syed Mohammed Yousuf Shah's death on Saturday. "No one asked for this inquiry, we acted suo motu... I have requested the Chief Justice that it should be done by a sitting judge of the High Court. If we had anything to hide, we would not have ordered a judicial enquiry by a High Court judge. I acted as responsibly as I was expected to," Mr Abdullah said.
Syed Mohammed Yousuf Shah died while in police custody early on Friday morning. He was handed over to the Crime Branch by Mr Abdullah for allegedly promising two party members senior positions in the government in exchange for huge amounts of money. An initial post-mortem report read out by J&K Home Secretary B R Sharma today, says the National Conference member probably died of a cardio-respiratory arrest or heart attack. It said there were no visible external injuries.
Earlier in the day, the crime branch of the Jammu and Kashmir police filed an FIR in the case today against unknown persons.
The main Opposition party - the PDP - has said Mr Abdullah must resign. "There are allegations that he (Omar Abdullah) manhandled the person. The Chief Minister has acted as judge and jury," said PDP leader Mehbooba Mufti.
Mr Abdullah said such allegations were "beneath contempt." He said it was "unfortunate the way facts of the case had been twisted" and that he would sue Ms Mufti for defamation.
The Opposition he said had made "baseless allegations against me and my father Farooq Abdullah" rather than "appreciating the suo motu action against a party member."
The Chief Minister asked the media and others to wait for the findings of the judicial commission and said he would present himself before it for questioning anytime it called him.
As expected, the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly opened to angry protests and much ruckus over the custodial death. What was unexpected, was Opposition PDP MLA Iftikhar Hussain Ansari flinging a pedestal fan on the ground.
Mr Ansari later defended his action saying, "I had picked up the fan with the intention to hit the Speaker, but Allah saved him."
The Speaker of the house, Mohammed Akbar Lone, later told NDTV that he regretted the angry exchange of words that led to the fan-flinging. Mr Lone had said inside the Assembly that whoever abused him would also be abused. Mr Lone told NDTV, "I am really very sorry for what happened inside the House. Though I was provoked by Maulana Ansari abusing me, but as a matter of fact I also reacted naturally and should have not as a presiding officer."
After repeated adjournments, the House was adjourned for the day.
Yesterday, the National Conference government rejected demands for the Chief Minister's resignation. Rather than responding to the Opposition's allegation that Mr Abdullah was involved in the death, the government chose to offer the judicial probe.
Mr Shah was allegedly involved in large scale corruption and fixing political deals. On Thursday, there was a confrontation between him, Mr Abdullah and other National Conference leaders at the Chief Minister's house where he was accused of taking Rs 1 crore from two party leaders and promising them a ministerial berth and a seat in the Legislative Council.
After the confrontation, the Chief Minister and the others handed Yousuf over to the Crime Branch. The next day, Mr Shah died, ostensibly of a heart attack. In huge embarrassment to the National Conference, Crime Branch Chief Raja Ajaz Ali has said that Yousuf had begun feeling nauseous at the Chief Minister's residence.