Afzal Guru hanging: Two days later, speed post reaches family

In a new twist, a top officer of the Jammu and Kashmir Postal Department on Monday said a letter from Delhi addressed to the wife of Parliament attack case convict Afzal Guru, who was hanged on Saturday, was delivered this morning.

The letter, booked from GPO New Delhi, was received in Srinagar GPO on February 9, the day Guru was hanged, Chief Post Master General of Jammu and Kashmir Circle John Samuel said.

"Since Sunday is a public holiday, the letter was delivered this morning," Samuel said.

A controversy had erupted on Sunday over the purported communication from the Centre to the family of Guru about the decision to hang him on Saturday with the family alleging they had come to know about his hanging from TV channels.

Though Union Home Secretary RK Singh had said that the family of Guru was sent a communication through speedpost, the family claimed having not received any such communication raising questions as to whether there was a serious effort to inform the family.

"Guru's family was informed about the decision of the Government that his mercy petition has been rejected. This was done through speedpost," Singh had said.

Chief Minister Omar Abdullah had questioned the rationale of informing Guru's family through post saying the reliability of the medium itself was questionable.

"If we are going to inform someone by post that his family member is going to be hanged, there is something seriously wrong with the system," he had said.

Samuel said the family of the deceased cooperated with the postal staff who went to deliver the letter.

The officer, however, said he was not sure whether it was the letter sent from the central government to inform Guru's family about the execution.

The family of the deceased refused to talk to media on the matter, saying they were still in mourning and would not like to comment.

DNA EDIT: Death penalty is not the answer