J-K: Firing at wedding attended by Farooq Abdullah, Deputy CM Surinder Choudhary; accused nabbed

Former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah narrowly avoided a gun attack during a wedding event in Greater Kailash’s Royal Park area on Friday morning. According to police, the incident occurred shortly after 10:30 pm when a man fired a shot at Abdullah during a celebration attended by him and Deputy Chief Minister Surinder Choudhary. 

Security personnel quickly overpowered the shooter, identified as Kamal Singh Jamwal, and took him into custody. In the initial investigation, it was found that the shot was fired by the accused under the influence of alcohol.

However, police have launched a comprehensive investigation to establish why the suspect opened fire and whom he intended to target. 

A CCTV video of the incident is going viral across social media platforms. In the footage, Abdullah can be seen leaving the venue accompanied by Choudhary and several others. The accused follows them and approaches Abdullah before firing a shot. Security guards quickly subdue the attacker.

Choudhary flags security lapse

Talking to India TV, Choudhary said the gunman fired a shot at Abdullah’s back as they were leaving the wedding. He criticised the security arrangements, saying there was “a total lapse” by the local police, with no security cordon in place. He added that the accused was apprehended by his own security team before being handed over to the police.

Both Abdullah and Choudhary are safe in the incident.

Incident raises several questions, says Omar Abdullah 

Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister and Farooq’s son Omar Abdullah shared the details of the incident, saying the incident raises several questions on how a person could come this close to a Z+ protectee. 

“Allah is kind. My father had a very close shave. The details are sketchy at the moment but what is known is that a man with a loaded pistol was able to get within point blank range & discharge a shot. It was only the close protection team that deflected the shot & ensured that the assassination attempt failed. There are more questions than answers at the moment including but not limited to how someone was able to get this close to a Z+ NSG protected former CM,” the J-K CM posted on X.

(Additional inputs by Rahi Kapoor)