Commission probing Kishtwar violence exonerates Sajjad Ahmad Kichloo

The RC Gandhi commission probing the Aug 9, 2013 communal violence in Kishtwar town of Jammu region has given a clean chit to the then minister of state for home Sajjad Ahmad Kichloo.

Kichloo, a legislator from Kishtwar assembly constituency in the 87-member legislative assembly, had resigned from the state cabinet following the administration's failure to control the communal violence in Kishtwar Aug 9 in which three people were killed and over 150 shops and houses gutted by rioters.

In its interim report submitted to the state government here Friday evening, the RC Gandhi commission has held that Kichloo had been a victim rather than an accused of the communal flare-up in Kishtwar. The commission has held the district administration, including the deputy inspector general of police (DIG), superintendent of police and others in the civil administration responsible for their failure to act promptly to stop the violence.

Kichloo had resigned in August this year and said he did not want to interfere with the functioning of the commission that would ultimately prove his innocence in the incident.

Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has decided to re-induct Kichloo into the state cabinet following the clean chit given to him by the commission, according to sources in the government.