If Afzal Guru's family requests visit to grave, govt will consider it: Sushilkumar Shinde

The government will consider any request by the family of Afzal Guru to visit his grave inside the Tihar jail here where he was buried after his hanging on Saturday, Union home minister Sushilkumar Shinde said on Monday.

"If they want to go (to the grave), it can be considered," Shinde told a press conference here.

The family of 43-year-old Afzal has expressed a desire to offer at least "fathiah namaz" (prayer at the grave) and take his belongings.

Cornered over the government's failure to intimate the family, Shinde waved the xerox copy of the speedpost receipt saying "two speedposts within the gap of 10 minutes were sent on the evening of February 7."

However, post master general of Jammu and Kashmir Circle John Samuel said in Srinagar that the letter was sent from Delhi on February 8 and received in Srinagar on February 9.

According to the official website of India Post, a speed post from national capital to any part of the country other than metropolitan cities like Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai Hyderabad and Bengaluru will take four to six days.