Team News Riveting
Srinagar, March 18
National Conference Vice President and former Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir Omar Abdullah Saturday termed the Jammu and Kashmir administration “incompetent” following the arrest of a conman posing as an official from the Prime Minister Office (PMO).
The conman, identified as Kiran Patel, was on this third visit to the Kashmir Valley when he was nabbed by security officials on March 3.
Addressing a party function here in the south Kashmir district, Omar Abdullah said, “My colleagues are not provided security even after so many requests. When they have to travel and seek an escort, the police say they do not have any vehicle or personnel… It is fine that you do not have a vehicle, we cannot complain. But when a fraudster comes from outside, then you have the vehicle available.” A person came from Gujarat and said he was an officer in the PMO but no one verified his claim, he added.
“They should have called the PMO to verify his credentials or a letter would have come from there. We understand that you (J-K administration) were befooled once, but what incompetent government is this that you were befooled four times,” he said.
The former J-K chief minister said the fraudster was provided with a bulletproof vehicle, an escort at the front and the other at the back, a room in a five-star hotel, and held meetings with officers every evening.
Referring to Patel’s photographs and videos which have gone viral on social media, the NC leader said Patel went to Gulmarg to inspect hotels there and even visited the Line of Control (LoC) in the Uri sector where confidential information may have been shared with him.
