Mehrajuddin Wadoo, a former India player and one of the faces of Kashmir football, was allegedly heckled and detained by some Jammu and Kashmir Police personnel on Saturday morning when he had stepped out of his home to visit his ailing mother.

He was later released after a top police official intervened.

Mehraj, who stays at Hyderpora, near the Srinagar Airport, got a call around 9.45am from one of his cousins that his mother Hajra Wadoo’s sugar level had drastically fallen and she was unconscious.

“She has been ailing for a long time. So the moment I got the call, I left for my mother’s place in Rainawadi, 5km away. I reached Badshah Chowk bridge around 10.15am when one constable came up asking why I am out. I told him my mother is not well and I have to visit her,” Mehraj told The Telegraph.

The assistant manager of Hyderabad FC continued: “I told him I am a former India footballer and my mother is in critical condition. The constable started abusing and heckling me. Then I tried to reason with the station house officer. He told me ‘if your mother was dying let her die’. He then dragged me out of the car. My mobile phone and car keys were taken by the SHO. I was detained for nearly two-and-a-half hours.”

After “much pleading” Mehraj was allowed to make one phone call and “the choice was between his mother or any friend”.

Mehraj decided to contact a friend who then got in touch with a top police official. “I was released around 12.30pm,” he said.

Mehraj said he was shocked by the way the police personnel behaved with him. “I sincerely hope these people learn to show a human face. I have represented my country and this is not the way they should treat someone. I have nothing against the Jammu and Kashmir Police force on the whole,” Mehraj added.

Mehraj, who played for the Big Three clubs of Calcutta with distinction and won the ISL with Chennaiyin FC, had posted about his ordeal on Twitter at 1.11pm. “People should know what I went through,” he said.

Mehraj, however, deleted the tweet later in the day and in another separate post, thanked Shahid Choudhary, Srinagar’s top IAS officer.

“Choudhary has been kind enough to issue passes for me. It was a very nice gesture on his part. I would be visiting my ailing mother tomorrow (Saturday),” Mehraj said.

A senior police official of J&K Police, when contacted by this paper, said under cover of anonymity: “There could have been an argument. Entire Srinagar is a red zone and under Covid-19 restrictions. Movement is not allowed without valid passes. Policemen have been instructed not to let anyone go without thorough checking. Protocol has to be followed.”

Mehraj said when he heard his mother was “sinking”, he didn’t think of “protocol”.