A truck conductor, injured in a petrol bomb attack in Udhampur nine days back, succumbed to his injuries today, triggering protests in some parts of Kashmir even as the tough Public Safety Act was slapped against five of the seven people arrested in the case.
Zahid, who was admitted in Safdarjung hospital in Delhi with 74 per cent burn injuries, breathed his last at 11.30 am after his condition worsened in the last 12 hours, police and hospital sources said.
A resident of Anantnag in South Kashmir, Zahid was conductor of the truck that was en route to Kashmir when a mob attacked it with petrol bombs on October 9. The driver of the truck Showkat Ahmed is also admitted in the hospital.
As soon as the news about his demise reached his Batengoo village, a spontaneous shutdown was observed and clashes between protesters and police broke out there and adjoining areas in Kulgam, police said.
Police had to use force to control the situation but nobody was hurt in the protests.
The body was flown from Delhi to Srinagar this evening in an aircraft of the state government. Ruling PDP chief and MP from Anantnag Mehbooba Mufti, state's Finance Minister Haseeb A Drabu and Law Minister Basharat Bukhari were at the Srinagar airport to receive the body.
Expressing deep shock over the death, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed blamed the "politics of hate and intolerance" for it and said it is posing a "grave challenge to the state and country's plurality."
He asserted that under no circumstances shall those guilty of this "barbaric crime" be allowed to go unpunished.
Nirmal Singh, Deputy Chief Minister and senior BJP leader from Jammu region where the attack took place, also condemned the incident and said the perpetrators should not be spared.
Former J&K CM Omar Abdullah attacked BJP and its allies over the incident and asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi as to who would be blamed for the death.
Director General of Police K Rajendra Kumar said five out of the eight persons involved in the attack have been booked under Public Safety Act (PSA).
"Seven persons were arrested for criminal assault on the truck and searches are on to nab the one, who is still absconding," he said.
