Excelsior Correspondent
Srinagar, May 5: Senior separatist leader and Tehreek-e-Hurriyat chairman, Mohammad Ashraf Sehrai, who was lodged at Kot Bhalwal jail today died of COVID-19 in Government Medical College hospital in Jammu today.
The septuagenarian was shifted from a Kot Bhalwal jail to GMC hospital Jammu yesterday after complaining of severe chest pain. His rapid test for COVID-19 was negative but his RT-PCR test was positive and the result came after his death.
Sehrai was arrested last year and booked under Public Safety Act. He was jailed in July 2020 after the killing of his son and Hizbul Mujahdeen commander Junaid Sehrai. He was originally Jamat-e-Islami leader and floated Tehreek-e-Hurriyat in 2003 with Syed Ali Shah Geelani.
The 77-year-old was considered as a strong contender to take over as Chief of the Hurriyat Conference after its former chairman Syed Ali Shah Geelani, in a letter, announced his dissociation from the amalgam.
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