NC leader cremated in Jammu amid demands for CBI probe into his murder

Thousands of people including former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah on Saturday attended the last rites of prominent National Conference leader T S Wazir here as various organisations demanded a CBI probe into his murder in Delhi.

Wazir, 67, a former member of the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Council, was found dead in a flat in West Delhi's Moti Nagar Thursday morning. Police are looking for two suspected persons who are believed to be behind his assassination.

A case of murder was registered in the matter and the investigation was transferred to Delhi Police's Crime Branch with the force's Special Cell to assist it.

As the body of the deceased reached his Gandhi Nagar residence here from Delhi, thousands of mourners turned up to pay their last respects to the deceased.

Wazir was a leading transporter who was also the chairman of All J-K Transport Welfare Association and Jammu District Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (DGPC).

Senior National Conference leaders including vice president Omar Abdullah and provincial president Devender Singh Rana also took part in the funeral which was also among others attended by senior BJP leader and former deputy chief minister Kavinder Gupta and senior vice president of J-K Congress and former minister Raman Bhalla.

Abdullah was seen consoling the bereaved family of the deceased including his wife and son who were in Canada and returned after the news of Wazir's death.

“Wazir was a leader with qualities of heart and mind, who served the people in his different capacities. With his death, the National Conference has lost a public spirited leader and the vacuum created will be difficult to fill,” Rana said, expressing solidarity with the bereaved family.

Wazir reached Delhi on September 2 and was scheduled to leave for Canada to visit his son. However, his highly decomposed body with his head wrapped in a plastic bag was found in the washroom of the flat after his family approached police to know his whereabouts.

The body was taken to Shashtri Nagar cremation ground in a procession and was consigned to flames.

Transporters and several Sikh organisations including Jammu DGPC have demanded a CBI probe into the killing of Wazir.