Arrested NC leader shifted from J&K to Uttar Pradesh jail

National Conference leader and former minister Ali Mohammad Sagar, who was arrested a few days ago in Jammu and Kashmir, was on Sunday shifted to a jail in Uttar Pradesh, officials said.

Ali Mohammad Sagar is the first mainstream political leader being sent out of Jammu and Kashmir as part of a government plan to shift prisoners to jails outside the state.

Ali Mohammad Sagar has been shifted to a jail in Bareilly in Uttar Pradesh, an official said.

With this, the total number of prisoners shifted out of Jammu and Kashmir has gone up to 46.

Jammu and Kashmir authorities on Friday airlifted 20 'potential troublemakers' from Srinagar to Agra, while on Thursday, 25 people were shifted as a precautionary measure in the wake of constitutional changes made by the government.

Ali Mohammad Sagar was arrested on August 5 along with former chief ministers-- Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti.

Kashmir High Court Bar Association president Mian Qayoom and Mubin Shah, an office-bearer of Kashmir Chamber of Commerce, were part of the group of 20 people airlifted.

The government has imposed strict restrictions in Jammu and Kashmir after the constitutional provisions that accorded the state special status were abrogated and it was divided into two union territories -- Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh.

President Ram Nath Kovind had on Saturday given assent to the legislation on Jammu and Kashmir's bifurcation and the new Union Territories will come into existence on October 31.