PESHAWAR, Nov 16: The jailed chief of the defunct Tehrik Nifaz-i-Shariat Muhammadi (TNSM), Maulana Sufi Mohammad, was shifted to Peshawar from the Dera Ismail Khan prison on Friday and admitted to the Hayatabad Medical Complex.

He is being kept in a private room, guarded by a heavy police contingent.

Sufi Mohammad has been in jail since Dec 12, 2001, when he was arrested along with his companions on their return from Afghanistan where they had gone to fight US forces.

His shifting to Peshawar sparked rumours that he was engaged in talks with the government, so that he could influence his son-in-law Maulana Fazlullah, who is spearheading the militancy in Swat.

Hospital officials refused to say why he had been shifted there and on whose orders.

A habeas corpus petition filed by his son is pending before the Peshawar High Court.