Separatist leader Shabir Shah fit and fine: Govt

The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) released a statement following rumours over the health of the separatist leader, lodged in the Tihar jail since his arrest on July 25, 2017 in a case related to the recovery of huge amount of cash.

Tihar prison authorities have denied occurrence of any untoward incident or mishap involving Shah, the government statement said.

Refuting fake news circulating in a section of media, Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of Tihar prison Shailendra Parihar said, "Shah is absolutely fit and fine."

"All other inmates from Jammu and Kashmir and Pakistan are also fine," he said, adding the prison authorities appealed to all to be cautious against fake news.

Putting the rumours to rest, Ruwa Shah, daughter of Hurriyat leader Altaf Ahmad Shah, who is also lodged in Tihar jail, said her father not Shabir Shah was injured when a tile fell off the washroom and hit his head.

"My father, Altaf Shah was injured yesterday in Tihar jail after a tile fell off the washroom wall and hit his head. This snowballed into a rumour about Shabir Shah because of the same surnames. Shabir Sb is fine. Altaf Sb has got a minor injury," Ruwa Shah tweeted.

On Saturday, a Delhi court deferred the hearing on a bail plea of Shah till April 2.

The application was moved before the court on the grounds of parity after the Delhi High Court recently granted bail to co-accused Mohammad Aslam Wani in the decade-old case.

The application claimed that Shah was wrongly and falsely implicated in the case, which was registered in 2007 for the alleged offence committed in 2005.

Shah said in his application that Wani has already been granted bail and that there was lack of evidence against him.

Shah was arrested on July 25, 2017 in the case in which the Special Cell of Delhi Police had also arrested Wani. It claimed that Rs 63 lakh was recovered from Wani, out of which Rs 52 lakh was allegedly to be delivered to Shah.

The court had in August 2017 denied bail to Shah after the Enforcement Directorate submitted that it was probing whether he had received money from "enemy countries" like Pakistan.