Indian accused of spying set to reach home after 8 years in Pak jail

KANPUR: A joint team comprising a district official, sub-inspector (LIU) and sub-inspector (civil police) has left for Amritsar to bring back Shamshuddin, the 62-year-old man from Beri Ka Hata under the limits of Bajaria police station of Kanpur, who served eight years in a Pakistani prison since 2012 on charges of being an ‘Indian spy’.


He had crossed into India from the Attari-Wagah border after his release from Karachi jail on October 26 and is presently lodged at a quarantine centre in Amritsar.

A Pakistan court had sentenced Shamshuddin for allegedly possessing a fake passport.

An expert in making shoe uppers, Shamshuddin was lodged in Karachi jail after his sentencing on October 24, 2012. His eight-year jail term ended on October 26, informed police sources adding that Amritsar authorities had quarantined him at a rehabilitation centre at Narayangarh in the district.

The Amritsar administration, after ascertaining his family’s whereabouts in Kanpur, is now preparing to hand him over to his family members, who had reached there on Tuesday.

“A team comprising a district official, besides SI (LIU) and SI (Civil Police) has left for Amritsar to bring back Shamshuddin to Kanpur after completing all legal formalities there,” said SP West Anil Kumar.

Police sources further informed TOI that his (Shamshuddin) brother Faheemuddin and brother-in-law Dilshad had reached Amritsar on Tuesday. “They had a meeting with the officials at the deputy commissioner’s office in Amritsar, but as they didn’t carry with them NOC of Kanpur district authorities, they couldn’t bring Shamshuddin back to Kanpur,” said sources further.

Faheemuddin told TOI over phone, “My brother shudders even at the name of Pakistan. He was mentally and physically tortured by Pakistan law enforcement agencies during interrogation. They asked him where his forefathers had belonged to, and what purpose had he in his mind while visiting Pakistan,” Faheemuddin said. “The Pakistan government released him after eight years,” he said.

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