Srinagar: The detention of former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Mehbooba Mufti under the stringent Public Safety Act (PSA) was extended by three months, hours before it was due to expire.
In a similar move, the detention of former minister and senior National Conference leader Ali Mohammed Sagar, and senior PDP leader and uncle of Mufti, Sartaj Madani, was also extended by another three months, officials said.
In a brief order by the Home Department of the Jammu and Kashmir administration, the extension of PSA was made under the public order provisions of the act.
While Mufti is at present lodged at her official residence 'Fair View', which has been converted into a subsidiary jail, Sagar and Madani are in a government accommodation at Gupkar road.
Mufti was initially detained on August 5 last year when the Centre abrogated special status of the erstwhile state and bifurcated it into two union territories - Ladakh, and Jammu and Kashmir.
Later, her six-month preventive custody was extended by invoking PSA on February 5 this year along with her political rival and former chief minister Omar Abdullah.
Having spent over eight months in detention at two government facilities that were designated as sub-jails, Mufti was shifted to her home on April 7, a move seen as a partial relief to her.