KANPUR: Shamshuddin, a 70-year-old man from Bajaria, Kanpur, has finally returned from Pakistan on completing his eight-year imprisonment in Karachi jail after being dubbed an ‘Indian spy’ and is eagerly waiting to meet his family.
Shamshuddin, a resident of Beri Kak Hata in Kanghi Mohal under Bajaria police station, crossed the Attari-Wagah border to reach India on October 26 after his release from Karachi jail and is in mandatory quarantine.
Sisamau circle officer Tripurari Pandey said, “We are completing the legal formalities and are in touch with our counterparts in Amritsar. Shamshuddin would be discharged from the quarantine centre on Monday, and will reach the city by Tuesday or Wednesday. It is a matter of great relief and joy for his family that he is coming home after a torturous imprisonment in Pakistan jail.”
A Pakistan court had sentenced Shamshuddin to eight years in prison in 2012 for espionage and possessing a fake passport. Shamshuddin, an expert in making shoe uppers, was lodged in Karachi Jail on October 24, 2012. His ordeal had, however, started much earlier in 1992 when he left Kanpur for Delhi in search of employment, but was misguided by one of his Pakistani relatives who took him along to Pakistan. His relative reportedly managed Pakistan nationality for Shamshuddin by faking documents.
In 2012, Shamshuddin was nabbed by intelligence when he tried to get his passport renewed when was planning to return to India.
Pakistan authorities accused Shamshuddin of being an Indian spy who entered the country illegally, and accused him of involvement in anti-national crimes and forging documents. Later, a court sentenced him to eight years in jail.
Officials in Amritsar administration contacted his family in Kanpur and asked them to come over and take him along as his quarantine term at Narayangarh rehabilitation centre gets over on Monday.