BANGALORE: Angry scenes were witnessed at slain NSG commando Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan's residence here when the family shut the doors before Kerala Chief Minister V S Achutanandan who went to meet them to offer condolences.

The commando's father Unnikrishnan, who hails from Kerala's Kozhikode, remained firm that no politician should enter his house and refused to meet Achutanandan and Home Minister Kodiyeri Balakrishnan. Unnikrishnan refused to allow police sniffer dogs into the house when security personnel came there ahead of the Kerala Chief Minister's visit. Sources close to Unnikrishnan said he even went to the extent of issuing a threat that he would commit suicide if any politician entered his house.

He had told his friends that his son, whose velour was witnessed by the entire country, did not belong to Kerala alone but to the entire nation. However, police persuaded Dhanalakshmi, mother of the slain commando, to talk to the Kerala leaders amid Unnikrishnan's protests. The Chief Minister and the government had been facing criticism for the delay in showing respect to Sandeep Unnikrishnan, who died fighting the terrorists in Mumbai.

Opposition parties in Kerala have accused the state government of having shown disrespect to the Kerala-born soldier by not sending any minister to his funeral which was attended by a large number of people, including Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa.

Achutanandan said, "We have come here to express our condolences." Meanwhile, a spokesman for Achuthanandan in Thiruvananthapuram said the political secretary of the Chief Minister had attended the funeral.

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