Johannesburg: South African athlete and convicted murderer Oscar Pistorius has returned to his cell after being treated in hospital for injuries from a fall, prison officials said yesterday, as his brother denied claims he had deliberately hurt himself.

Oscar Pistorius. Pic/AFP

Pistorius, sentenced to six years in jail for murdering his girlfriend, "had to be detained Saturday afternoon at the hospital after falling off his bed," prison services spokesman Singabakho Nxumalo said, adding: "He's back in our care now."

But a South African newspaper reported that the double-amputee sprinter, the only athlete to have competed in both Paralympic and Olympic races, was treated for cuts on his wrists.

According to City Press, citing another inmate at the prison, Pistorius had to go to hospital after deliberately harming himself.

"Two warders with knowledge of the hospital section said blades were subsequently found in Pistorius's cell during a search yesterday afternoon," the newspaper said.

It also said a security guard at Kalafong Hospital in Pretoria where Pistorius was taken said the 29-year-old "had bad cuts on his wrists and the doctors kept wrapping bandages around them."

Pistorius's brother Carl however rejected what he called "sensational" media reports.