J&K custodial death: Omar calls Yousuf 'crook'

New Delhi, Oct 8: Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir, Omar Abdullah, who has been tangled in the controversial death of National Conference worker Mohammed Yousuf Shah, talking to a news channel called Yousuf 'a crook' whom he dealt with in a transparent manner.

"Yousuf was a crook whom I dealt with in a transparent manner. Every party has men like this who will sell political proximity for favours," said the CM while talking to the television channel.

Omar Abdullah had handed over Yousuf to the Crime Branch after which he died in the police custody. According to Yousuf's family, he was tortured by the police, however, the autopsy report revealed that Yousuf died due to an heart attack and his body bore no marks of injury.

"I am not losing any sleep (over the incident)...I did no wrong," said Abdullah.

The Chief Minister also said that his father, Farooq Abdullah did not know if Yousuf was offering government posts to people in return of money. According to Abdul Salam Reshi, a complainant and bribe giver, he had earlier complained of Yousuf to Omar.

"I'm only human...I forgot to address the complaint of graft immediately," said Omar.

"We need to segregate the two cases (death and the issue of bribery). As far as death of the NC worker is concerned, the Chief Minister has ordered a judicial enquiry. Let's allow the probe to be completed," said Congress spokesman Manish Tewari.

"I am damn well going to do my job," said Abdullah.

"My contacts are with Congress ministers, my coalition partners. They are my ministers. That is it. I will not be distracted from that," said Abdullah when asked if he was in touch with Congress, his coalition partner.

"Fictitious stories and lies that are being presented in the media is something I don't understand," said an irked Abdullah on media spinning stories about him and the way they were covering the whole issue.

OneIndia News