Anupam Kher stopped at Srinagar airport, sent back

Bollywood actor Anupam Kher was on Sunday detained at the airport here to prevent him from visiting the troubled NIT campus in Srinagar. He was later put on a Delhi-bound flight.

Kher had intended to visit NIT Srinagar to express solidarity with non-local students who have been on protest following clashes with local students after an India-West Indies cricket match on March 31.

Deputy Inspector General of Police Ghulam Hassan Bhat and a Senior Superintendent of Police met Kher at the VIP lounge of the airport on his arrival and told him that he cannot visit the NIT campus.

"Kher was later asked to take a fight back to Delhi. He went back by an IndiGo flight," a police officer said.

Some Kashmiri students had celebrated India's loss to the West Indies. This was opposed by some non-local students, triggering unrest and clashes.

The non-local students allege they were beaten up by the Jammu and Kashmir Police. They want the college to be shifted out of the Kashmir Valley.

In the morning, Anupam Kher expressed unhappiness on being stopped at the airport.

"I have been told by police that I cannot enter Srinagar city at all. I have asked them to show me the orders," he tweeted.

"Asked police if I can visit my ancestral home or Kheer Bhawani temple. Even that is not allowed. Basically it is airport arrest," he said.

Earlier, authorities stopped dozens of marchers at Lakhanpur at the border of Jammu and Kashmir in Kathua district and persuaded them not to continue with their proposed march to the Kashmir Valley.