Dr Shaheen Shahid, 43, once a government medical lecturer in Kanpur, is among those arrested for her alleged role in a terror module stretching from Kashmir to Delhi. Born and raised in the narrow lanes of Hata Mustafa Khan in Khandari Bazar, Lucknow, Shaheen was the daughter of Shahid Ansari, a retired staffer from the state health department.
Her family said she had wanted to become a doctor since childhood. After completing her MBBS from a government college in Prayagraj, she joined GSVM Medical College, Kanpur, as a lecturer in 2006, securing the post through the Uttar Pradesh Public Service Commission examination.
Her career, however, began to unravel soon after. Colleagues at GSVM recalled that Shaheen worked diligently for about three years before developing professional differences with a senior colleague. She was transferred to Kannauj in 2009, but returned to Kanpur within six months. By 2013, she had stopped reporting to duty altogether, officials at the college told HT, asking not to be identified. Despite repeated letters and notices sent to her Lucknow address, she never responded, leading to her dismissal in 2021 for prolonged absence, they said.
Shaheen was married to an ophthalmologist from Maharashtra, who also briefly taught at GSVM. The couple reportedly divorced in 2015. Since then, she had lived a reclusive life, cutting ties with her family and colleagues. For the last six years, she had not returned to her ancestral home in Lucknow, her father said.
{{/usCountry}}Shaheen was married to an ophthalmologist from Maharashtra, who also briefly taught at GSVM. The couple reportedly divorced in 2015. Since then, she had lived a reclusive life, cutting ties with her family and colleagues. For the last six years, she had not returned to her ancestral home in Lucknow, her father said.
{{/usCountry}}Investigators allege that Shaheen was living in Faridabad with Dr Muzammil Ahmad Ganaia, one of the module’s key accused, and that the two were in a relationship, according to officials of the Uttar Pradesh Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS). Her younger brother, Dr Parvez Ansari, was arrested for links to the same network on Tuesday.
When police arrived at her father’s house on Tuesday, neighbours were stunned. “It was only a month ago that I spoke to my daughter,” Shahid Ansari said. “She had come to Lucknow six years ago.” Residents expressed disbelief, calling her “quiet, polite and deeply private.”
Former colleagues described Shaheen as intelligent but increasingly withdrawn in her later years. “She was good at her work… But after her transfer to Kannauj, something changed. None of us imagined her life would take this turn,” said one senior doctor at GSVM.