Head hangs in shame: CM Mehbooba Mufti on TN tourist death in J&K stone-pelting

Srinagar: A tourist from Tamil Nadu died after being injured pelted with stones in Kashmir. The incident took place on Monday morning at Narbal on the outskirts of capital Srinagar.

22-year-old R Thirumani had been moved to a hospital with serious injuries at around 10:30 on Monday morning. He slipped into coma and died around 8:30 pm.

R Thirumani, a resident of Chennai, was on a visit to Kashmir and was part of a group that was headed to Gulmarg. The Jammu and Kashmir police said the tourist vehicle that he sitting in was attacked by stone-pelters during clashes. One of the stones hit R Thirumani on the head. A 19-year-old local girl was also injured.

Read: J&K: 22-year-old Chennai tourist dies after hit by stone near Srinagar

Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti went to the police hospital in Srinagar after she was informed of R Thirumani's death. She met the parents of the man.

"My head hangs in shame. It is very sad and heartbreaking," she was quoted as saying by news agency PTI.

Opposition leader Omar Abdullah tweeted, "We've killed a tourist by throwing stones at the vehicle he was travelling in. Let's try and wrap our heads around the fact that we stoned a tourist, a guest, to death while we glorify these stone pelters & their methods."

Last week, a child was injured when stone-pelters hurled stones at a school bus in Shopian in south Kashmir. There were more than 50 children on the bus, including four-year-old nursery students of a private school.

The attack on the school bus and the tourist's death has serious consequences for the state, heavily reliant on tourism for its revenue.

Also Read: Stone pelters attack school bus with 50 children in Kashmir, 2 students hurt

Jammu and Kashmir has been trying to revive tourism in the state which has got a hit after a spate of violent clashes that broke out two years ago after the killing of terrorist Burhan Wani in an encounter with security forces.

(With inputs from PTI)