SRINAGAR: Top Kashmir hotelier Mushtaq Ahmad Chaya, who was booked by police for leaving red zone in Jammu to travel to Srinagar on Friday, has been put under quarantine at a hotel here for a period of 14 days.

Chaya confirmed to Kashmir Reader that he has been put in quarantine at a hotel and said that the ill health of his wife was the reason why he left for Srinagar from Jammu.

Chaya had travelled from his Jammu residence at Farooq Abdullah Enclave in Bathindi on Friday negotiating his way past scores of barricades on the Srinagar-Jammu highway meant for blockade of inter-district movement.

The restrictions have been put in place as a measure to contain Covid-19.

At Trikuta Nagar police station in Jammu, a case has been registered against Chaya for violating the restrictions. He can be sent to jail for a maximum period of six months or levied a maximum fine of Rs 1000 or both in case he is proved guilty of the offences he is charged with.

Chaya told Kashmir Reader that his 67-year-old wife, who is not well at his Srinagar home, was without him for more than a month. He wanted to be at home with his family at this time when the situation was becoming more difficult by the day.

“Who does not want to be at home with their family at this time? I am old, ill, and so is my wife. I wanted to be with my family. It is not a crime or shame,” he said.

“I have been at Jammu since March 10 for work. All my efforts to reach home before the lockdown could not materialise. Multiple air tickets I had booked were cancelled. There is no knowing when this lockdown will end. I wanted to die at my home, so I came here,” he said.

According to Chaya, he was screened for Covid-19 symptoms at multiple check posts before he was allowed to move ahead. He said he pleaded his case before police at barricades on the highway so as to be able to reach Srinagar.

Junaid Nabi Bazaz