Farooq attacker, who lost home in Kashmir, blamed him for militancy: Chargesheet

In its 600-page chargesheet on the assassination attempt on National Conference president Farooq Abdullah, the J&K police said the prime accused blamed the former CM for militancy, which forced him to leave his land in Kashmir. The chargesheet against 63-year-old Kamal Singh Jamwal said he harboured a grudge against Abdullah over his lost home.

Jamwal  was arrested on the spot after allegedly opening fire at Abdullah from close range during a marriage function in the Greater Kailash area in Jammu on March 11. Abdullah, who was accompanied by Deputy Chief Minister Surinder Choudhary and other senior party leaders, had a miraculous escape.

Jamwal, a resident of old Jammu city’s Purani Mandi area, is in judicial custody. “I have not done this at the behest of anyone. I fired at him as I think of him as being responsible for the spread of militancy. I wanted to kill him for the past 20 years,” he told police.

The issue snowballed into a controversy between the Omar Abdullah-led J&K government and the L-G administration, as the Home Department falls under the purview of the latter. Ruling party leaders blamed the assassination attempt on a “major security lapse”, accusing the administration of withdrawing the security cover of non-BJP politicians in the UT.