National Conference worker died of heart failure: Forensic report
Srinagar, Oct 12 (IANS) National Conference (NC) worker Sayeed Muhammad Yousuf, whose Sep 30 death has kicked up a political storm in Jammu and Kashmir, died of cardio-respiratory arrest and not of any torture, a forensic science laboratory (FSL) report confirmed Wednesday.
Yousuf died Sep 30 in police custody, a day after he visited Chief Minister Omar Abdullah’s house.
A team of doctors nominated by the principal of the Government Medical College Srinagar had conducted the autopsy on the body of Yousuf Sep 30.
Samples were collected by the team of doctors for forensic examination at the forensic sciences laboratory of the local medical college.
‘The FSL report has confirmed that the deceased had died of cardio-respiratory arrest and not of any torture,’ a senior official of the state government said here.
A political storm had followed the NC worker’s death with the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) demanding the resignation of Chief Minister Omar Abdullah so that the judicial probe into the death could be carried out impartially.
Omar had said he had done nothing wrong and ruled out resignation.
The PDP alleged that the NC worker died in mysterious circumstances after he was called to Omar’s residence along with two other NC workers, Abdul Salam Rishi and Muhammad Yusuf Bhat. These two had alleged they had given Sayeed Muhammad Yousuf Rs.1.18 crore for getting one of them a ministerial berth and the other a legislator’s seat in the state.
The PDP also alleged the slain worker said he gave the money to NC patron and union Minister for Renewable Energy Farooq Abdullah, a claim vehemently denied by both the Abdullahs.
Sayeed Talib, the son of the slain NC worker, had also released a photograph of his father’s body which Talib claimed bore torture marks.
A magisterial probe by the additional district magistrate Srinagar is already being conducted into the death of Yousuf.
The state government has requested the chief justice of the J&K High Court to nominate a sitting judge to carry out the judicial probe, but so far there has been no official word on the judge’s name either from the government or from the state chief justice.
Omar Abdullah has also spoken to union Law Minister Salman Khurshid to help expedite the nomination of the sitting high court judge for the probe.
With both the FSL report and the post-mortem examination confirming that the deceased worker died of natural causes, Omar Abdullah appears to have survived yet another major crisis after he came to power here in 2008.