New Delhi: Kashmiri separatist leader Altaf Ahmad Shah died of cancer early on Tuesday at All India Institute of Medical Sciences here after he was taken to the hospital from the Tihar Jail on the orders of Delhi High Court, reported news agency PTI. Son-in-law of late Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani, Shah passed away at the age of 66.
"We were informed about Abu's passing away late last night," his daughter Ruwa Shah told the news agency.
In a tweet, she said Shah breathed his last at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi. "As a prisoner." Shah, a resident of Soura locality of Srinagar, was arrested on July 25, 2017 with six others, facing trial in an alleged terror funding case probed by the National Investigation Agency (NIA), the PTI report stated.
The Delhi High Court on October 5 had ordered his shifting to the AIIMS Delhi for appropriate treatment after he was stated to have been diagnosed with cancer.
Shah had told the court that he was receiving treatment for certain serious ailments at the Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital (RML) but it was recently revealed he was suffering from the last stage renal cancer, as per the PTI report.
While claiming the RML does not have the adequate facility to treat renal cancer, he prayed he be allowed to be shifted to the AIIMS or Apollo Hospital for urgent treatment, the report added.
Shah is survived by wife, son and two daughters.