Kashmiri woman held for alleged IS link contracted Covid-19: Tihar Jail

Tihar Jail spokesperson and additional Inspector General Rajkumar on Monday issued a statement saying that Hina Bashir - a Kashmiri woman who was arrested in March this year along with her husband for their alleged links with Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP) - had tested negative for coronavirus disease before being taken into custody by the NIA on May 29.

New Delhi:The Tihar Jail has issued has statement clarifying that Hina Bashir - a Kashmiri woman who was arrested earlier this year for allegedly planning a terror attack in the country during the anti-CAA protests - has contracted coronavirus while she was in the custody of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) and not in the prison.

Tihar Jail spokesperson and additional Inspector General Rajkumar on Monday issued a statement saying that the NIA on May 29 took Hina along with five others under their custody for interrogation. They were all tested for coronavirus before they were allowed to leave the prison but they all had tested negative. It was only when they were brought back that Hina tested positive.

Bashir is presently undergoing treatment at Delhi's Lok Nayak Jai Prakash (LNJP) hospital after Patiala House court directed the NIA to do so.

Bashir (39) and her husband Jahanzaib Sami, residents of Srinagar, were arrested by Delhi Police’s Special Cell from the national capital’s Jamia Nagar area in the first week of March for their alleged links with Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP). They also allegedly instigated protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), the police said.

Since NIA is probing several cases pertaining to a larger conspiracy involving Islamic State in India, it took custody of Bashir along with Sami and another ISIS operative - Mohammad Abdullah Basith - from Tihar jail on May 29.

Basith is believed to be a Hyderabad-based Islamic State operative arrested in August 2018 for allegedly inspiring several persons to join the outfit and carry out major attacks in India.