Omar: Tell judiciary if not happy with commission to probe NC worker's death

Jammu: Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah today said if the Opposition is not satisfied with the appointment of the one-man Commission to probe the custodial death of NC worker Syed Mohammed Yusuf Shah, it should take up the matter with the judiciary. “If the Opposition has doubt on the credibility of a retired Supreme Court Justice who has nothing to do with the state, then there is nothing I can say. They should take up the matter with the judiciary,” he told reporters. The state government had on Friday appointed the Commission under retired judge H S Bedi (65), whose name was proposed by the Union Law Ministry. The Opposition said the constitution of the Commission of Inquiry will not help to uncover the truth. [caption id=“attachment_135068” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“J&K’s chief minister said the Opposition could approach the judiciary if they were not happy with the one man commission to probe the death of Syed Mohammed Yusuf Shah. AFP”] [/caption] “We did not want to appoint a Judge, even if he is very objective, from within the state as the Opposition would have cast aspersions on him…We approached the Law Ministry to recommend a penal of retire Judges…if the Opposition is still not satisfied, I can do nothing about it,” he said. The Commission, which has been asked to complete its probe in six weeks, will investigate the entire circumstances leading to the death of 61-year-old Yusuf during his custody with Crime Branch of Jammu and Kashmir police on September 29. A simultaneous probe into the alleged criminal activity of the deceased will continue with the crime branch. His death snowballed into a political controversy after he was summoned by Omar to ascertain whether he was taking money from people on the pretext of getting them ministerial berths. Yusuf was arrested along with two others, Salam Reshi and Mohammed Yusuf Bhat, on September 28 from the Chief Minister’s residence for allegedly duping people of money promising them government jobs, MLC seats and ministerial berths, citing his proximity with top NC leadership. Yusuf died the following day and as per postmortem reports he had suffered a massive cardio-respiratory failure. Two people including Bhat and a mimicry artist Aizaz Bhat have already recorded their confessional statements before a magistrate against Yusuf. PTI