Alleging that Saeed Mohammad Yousuf was killed in police custody on September 30, some 300 activists of the opposition PDP marched for nearly a kilometre before the police prevented them from advancing towards the headquarters of the National Conference.
PDP president Mehbooba Mufti, who led the march, said no one was safe in the state and alleged that the needle of suspicion over Yousuf's death pointed at chief minister Omar Abdullah and one of his junior colleagues in the council of ministers.
Mufti led the march from the party headquarters raising slogans demanding that Yousuf's killers be exposed. The death of Yousuf, who was said to be close to the chief minister and his father, has raised a storm in the state.
Resignation demand
Senior PDP leaders Tarek Hamid Karra, Dilawar Mir and Nizam Al Deen Bhat were part of the procession, which security forces intercepted at Regal Chowk, 300 metres from the city centre Lal Chowk.
"To ensure a fair probe into the death of the National Conference worker, Omar Abdullah must step down," Mehbooba Mufti told reporters. "Otherwise the probe would be nothing more than an eyewash."
Police used batons to disperse the marchers.
The PDP stalled the proceedings of the state assembly for two days, demanding a discussion on Yousuf's custodial death.
Abdullah said on Monday that National Conference workers Muhammad Yousuf Bhat of Ganderbal and Abdul Salam Rishi of Anantnag district had met him on September 29 levelling serious allegations of corruption against Yousuf.
"Recognising the serious nature of the allegations, I asked Nasir Aslam Wani, the minister of state for home, to call all three to find out the truth," he said.
Abdullah maintains that the trio were handed over to the crime branch of the police after Yousuf admitted that he had received Rs11.8 million (Dh866,780) from Bhat and Rishi promising to get them legislative and ministerial berths.
Yousuf died in a police hospital on Sepember 30. Critics and his family say he was killed because he knew "too many secrets" of Abdullah and his father, central cabinet minister Farooq Abdullah.
State home commissioner B.R. Sharma, director general of police Kuldeep Khoda and inspector general Raja Ajay Ali told the media on Monday that the autopsy report of the deceased revealed he died of a heart attack. The PDP has contested the official version and is demanding a fair probe.
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