New Delhi:
Omar Abdullah has said that he has no regrets about how he handled the case of a party worker whose death has plunged Mr Abdullah's government into an emergency.
"Mohammed Yousuf was a crook whom I dealt with in a transparent manner" said the Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir to NDTV. "Every party has men like this who will sell political proximity for favours," he added.
Syed Mohammed Yousuf Shah was summoned by Mr Abdullah to his home on Friday, September 30. Also present at the meeting were two other members of Mr Abdullah's party who had reportedly paid Mr Shah huge bribes for important governmental positions. Abdul Salam Reshi was one of them. He claims he had given Mr Shah 34 lakhs for a position on the Legislative Council. The other alleged bribe-giver, Yousuf Ganderbali, had reportedly paid 84 lakhs to be made a minister. After talking to the trio, Mr Abdullah handed over the men to the Crime Branch. 12 hours later, Mr Shah had died. His family claims he was tortured. A post-mortem shows he died of a heart attack. Mr Abdullah has said a judicial commission will investigate the death. "I am not losing any sleep (over the crisis)...I did no wrong," he said. (
Read: 'My father was assaulted,' says Syed Yousuf's son)
Mr Abdullah says there's no question of his resignation - a demand made everyday for the last week by opposition parties. "I have behaved in as transparent a manner as possible," he said. "I am in touch with the Centre to get a sitting judge for the probe as soon as possible."
The Chief Minister believes Mr Shah died of stress, caused possibly by knowing his transgressions had been discovered. He also emphasised, "My father did not know that Yousuf was offering government posts for money in his name."
Mr Ganderbali has refused to talk to the media.
But Mr Reshi's testimony has been fairly battering for Omar and his father, Farooq, who is a union minister and the head of the National Conference party. Mr Reshi says he complained to the Chief Minister more than two months ago about Mr Shah. Mr Abdullah does not deny this. "I'm only human," he said, "I forgot to address the complaint of graft immediately."
Mr Reshi has also said that Mr Shah told him that the Abdullahs were aware of the deals he struck. And he claims that Mr Shah was vomiting in the police jeep that drove him away from the Chief Minister's house.
Mr Abdullah hinted that Mr Reshi is being propped by his political opponents. "I have reason to believe that the PDP has been in touch with Reshi, the eyewitness making allegations," he said. The PDP, the main opposition party in the state, led by Mehbooba Mufti scoffed at the allegations saying, "All these years, whenever things have gone wrong, they have gone out of control because of his (Omar) misgovernance or his mishandling or his high-handedness, he has always blamed PDP. It's the easiest answer that comes to him."
Ms Mufti has said that the Chief Minister is responsible for Mr Shah's "murder". She also wants Mr Abdullah to step down till a judicial commission clears him. Hundreds of workers of PDP were lathicharged by the police in Jammu today as they took to the streets in protest. Ms Mufti today denied allegations that her party is trying to influence the witnesses involved in Mr Shah's case.
Mr Abdullah's coalition partner, the Congress, has said it continues to support him. Ms Mufti's response: "New Delhi is shielding Omar Abdullah; it applies different standards to the rest of the country and different standards to Jammu and Kashmir."