Jammu and Kashmir, May 7: A disturbing piece of news to emerge from the recent Jammu and Kashmir's Budigam encounter from Shopian district between the security forces and terrorists is the involvement of Jammu and Kashmir University's assistant professor Mohd Rafi Bhat. The academic turned terrorist was one among the five terrorists killed along with five civilians who tried obstructing security forces action against the terrorists on May 6, Sunday morning. Reports have emerged that the academic turned terrorist made his last call to family and spoke to his father before getting killed. His last words were: "I am sorry if I hurt you."

According to a report in the Times of India, the professor had not been seen on Friday and the students and teachers of the university had held a protest regarding professor Bhat's disappearance. The students and the faculty members blamed the authorities and security forces for Bhat's disappearance.

Professor Bhat was an accomplished scholar with a PhD in Sociology and had also qualified for the UGC's highly competitive and prestigious Junior Research Fellowship (JRF) which qualifies a candidate for directly pursuing the doctorate degree without having to take admission and complete M.Phil degree.

The Times of India report also mentioned that the security forces tried convincing the academic turned terrorist to give up the gun and return through his family members, but  professor Bhat refused to surrender and give in.

A police officer was quoted by the Times of India saying that the police had contacted professor Bhat's family, who lives at Chunduna village. Professor Bhat's brother also confirmed that the family had gone to the site of the encounter to convince professor Bhat to surrender, but to no avail.

His father also told police that he made a call to the family in his last moment and said that he was sorry if he had hurt them and that it was his last call before going to meet Allah. Policemen confirmed that a soldier was also injured in the encounter and was admitted to a military hospital in Srinagar.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on May 07, 2018 09:15 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).