Cops foil suicide bid by Masoom Shah in Peshawar prison

PESHAWAR: The police on Wednesday foiled a suicide attempt by Syed Masoom Shah, an aide to a former chief minister who is in judicial custody on charges of corruption and possessing assets beyond his known means of income.

The police officials at the Central Prison Peshawar told The News that Masoom Shah, who served as special assistant to the then chief minister Ameer Haider Hoti, tried to snatch a pistol from the police personnel producing him in the accountability court. They said that he tried to snatch the pistol from a policeman while passing through the gate of the Central Prison Peshawar. The officials said that the policemen foiled the suicide bid. “Masoom Shah was crying and frustrated,” a police official said.

The Central Prison Peshawar authorities confirmed the incident and said Masoom Shah wanted to shoot himself with the pistol.

As per the prison authorities, psychiatrists checked his health condition after the suicide attempt and gave him mental counselling. The doctors stated that Masoom Shah took this extreme step due to depression caused by his confinement. They termed it a serious attempt to commit suicide.

The police didn’t produce him in the court after the incident. Instead, the cops submitted a medical certificate in the court that he was not in a position to be produced for hearing of the case. The accountability court extended his judicial remand. The prison authorities, the sources said, hurriedly made special security arrangements for Masoom Shah after his botched suicide attempt.

Masoom Shah reportedly felt frustrated because the accountability court dismissed his plea bargain application submitted and approved by the chairman of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB). It was the first time that an already approved plea bargain application was rejected by an accountability court. Subsequently, Masoom Shah had challenged the accountability court’s decision in the Peshawar High Court, which issued notices to the NAB Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

The NAB had asked for his acquittal and release as he had agreed to enter into a plea bargain by offering to return Rs258 million that he was accused of having acquired through corrupt practices.  While rejecting the plea bargain, the accountability court had directed the NAB Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to complete investigation into the case without any further delay and submit reference against the accused within fortnight.