New Delhi: Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Association President Farooq Abdullah today expressed anguish and dismay over the reported midnight search by police in a Jammu hotel where the state Ranji squad was lodged and said that he has taken up the issue with people concerned.
Abdullah expressed solidarity with the players, currently in Jammu in connection with Ranji Trophy tournament, and said the incident has pained him immensely.
"This should not have happened in the first instance," he said in a press release, expressing regret on the unfortunate incident.
The JKCA President said though he was informed that the search was routine in nature yet he believed this could have been avoided.
He assured the cricketers that such an ugly situation will not arise again and asked them to focus in their game.
"Please concentrate on the game and ignore the unpleasant incident as an act of misunderstanding," he said in a message to the players, hoping they will give their best to the game and bring laurels to the state.
Jammu and Kashmir Ranji cricketers endured a torrid time on Tuesday when they were woken up in the middle of night and questioned for hours by the police, who were looking for a suspected militant.
The incident happened hours before the cricketers were to play against Hyderabad on the final day of their Ranji Trophy Group C match, which ended in a draw later.
Team all-rounder Samiullah Beigh narrated the incident on his Facebook page.
"Cudnt sleep whole night....police came to search our hotel at midnight and questioned us for hours at 1:15am in the night," Beigh wrote.
"We dnt lock our doors as only our Ranji trophy team stays in that hotel. we r still feeling d shock n horror of finding uniformed people with guns surrounding us when v wre fast asleep," he added.
Inspector General of Jammu Police, Rajesh Kumar said acting on a tip off, they searched all Jammu hotels and the Ranji team was not targetted "specifically".
