Srinagar: Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Tuesday urged Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha to take strict action against those behind the death of a Ramban youth, to send out a strong message that jungle raj will not be tolerated in the Union Territory.
“We want the atmosphere to remain good, but there are some people who want to create jungle raj here. They want to vitiate the atmosphere here and create a communal conflict,” Abdullah said while addressing a function in the Bijbehara area of south Kashmir’s Anantnag district.
Referring to the Ramban incident, Abdullah said an innocent person was killed there.
“I want to tell those people who want to vitiate the atmosphere here in the garb of religion, that as long as my government is there, we will never allow them to succeed in Jammu and Kashmir,” he said.
The chief minister appealed to LG Sinha to take stern action against those involved in the killing, and those trying to vitiate the atmosphere, “so that a message is sent out that the current government will not allow this hooliganism, this jungle raj, in Jammu and Kashmir.”
Authorities on Tuesday intensified a multi-agency search in Jammu and Kashmir’s Ramban district for a man feared to have fallen into a fast-flowing stream after allegedly being assaulted for carrying a cow in his vehicle.
A Special Investigation Team (SIT) has been constituted and four people have been arrested in connection with the case, which triggered widespread protests and tension in the district along the Jammu-Srinagar National Highway.
Tanveer Ahmad Chopan (25), a resident of Mundkhal Pogal in Ukhral tehsil, was travelling from Jammu to his native village in a Tata Mobile vehicle ferrying a milch cow and two calves when he was allegedly chased and assaulted by cow vigilantes on Sunday, according to locals.
According to eyewitness accounts, Chopan jumped into the nearby Nallah Bishlari while trying to save himself.
After an overnight halt, the search operation resumed on Tuesday morning, with teams from the police, SDRF and NDRF, along with local volunteers, focusing on the many large boulders scattered across the stream amid apprehensions that the body may be trapped beneath them, officials said.
They said the operation is being carried out across difficult terrain, with teams combing also downstream stretches in a coordinated effort.
Many relatives of the missing man have joined the search operation, while others are camping along the banks of the stream, anxiously keeping vigil and hoping for his early recovery as efforts continue for the third day. (With inputs from PTI)
CM visits family of two brothers who drowned in Jhelum
Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Tuesday visited the family of two brothers who drowned in the Jhelum River while bathing their sheep a day earlier.
He visited Bijbehara in Anantnag to offer condolences to the family, according to an X post by the Office of the Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir.
“He expressed deep sorrow over the incident and assured the bereaved family of full support and assistance from the Government,” it said.
Majid Bashir, 30, and Shahid Bashir, 28, were bathing their sheep in the river at Padshahibagh area of Bijbehara on Monday when they slipped.
Preliminary investigations suggest that one of the brothers slipped and the other drowned while trying to save him.
