Jammu: The 63-year-old man who shot at National Conference (NC) chief and former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Farooq Abdullah in Jammu on Wednesday, has allegedly told investigators that he wanted to kill the leader for 20 years.
Kamal Singh Jamwal shot at Farooq at a wedding. Though he fired the shot from point-blank range, the NC chief escaped unhurt due to the reaction of his bodyguards.
“I wanted to kill him. Today, I got a chance to kill him. But he didn’t die,” Jamwal, a resident of the Purani Mandi area of Old Jammu, told the police, as reported by The Tribune.
“I have my own motive,” he said when asked why he wanted to kill the leader.
Jamwal has no criminal history and was in an inebriated condition at the time of the incident, the police said. He also told the police that he had a personal weapon, which he used in the incident.
“The firearm used in the crime has been recovered. Further investigation is on,” the police said.
Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha spoke to Farooq and assured him of a “thorough investigation” into the matter, it has been reported
Meanwhile, chief minister Omar Abdullah said that his father “had a close shave” and the protection team of Farooq “deflected the shot and ensured that the assassination attempt failed”.
Jamwal told reporters outside a Jammu court on Thursday that he did not fire at the behest of anyone. “I fired of my own volition,” he said. The court remanded him to five-day police custody.
Jamwal also told the police that he was a cousin of the groom’s father and was at the event on an invitation.
However, advocate D S Chauhan, legal head of the NC in Jammu province at whose daughter’s wedding the incident occurred , told The Tribune that the accused was not invited to the function.
“He (Jamwal) is related to the groom’s family, but I have been told that they were not even in talking terms with him,” he said.
The family checked the CCTV footage, but they could not find how he entered the venue, he said.
“There were sitting judges, ministers and other leaders at the event …but not a single policeman was deployed for security,” Chauhan said, blaming the Jammu and Kashmir Police for the security lapse.
