SUKKUR: A dacoit, with huge bounty on his head, escaped from jail ward at the Sukkur Civil Hospital on Friday after subjecting the only police official guarding him to torture with the help of two accomplices, who had come to meet him.

Sources said that the dacoit identified as Kher Mohammad Teghani was brought to the hospital from Sukkur Central Prison as he had probably faked some ailment. Some unknown persons, who came to meet him at the ward, helped him overpower the police official and escape with them on motorcycles, said the sources.

The sources said that usually four police officials guarded the jail ward but three of them had suddenly disappeared on the pretext of offering Friday prayers when the prisoner found an opportunity to make good his escape. Later, a large number of policemen rushed to the ward and cordoned off the area, they said.

SSP Amjad Ali Shaikh told Dawn that he had taken the incident seriously and ordered detention of the four police officials, who were being interrogated. An inquiry committee headed by three senior officers was investigating the prisoner’s escape from all angles, he said.

He said that an FIR would be lodged against the police officials and the fugitive would be caught soon as several police teams were searching him and his accomplices.

Two ‘dacoits’ shot dead

Police gunned down two dacoits and arrested two other criminals after they fell injured in three encounters with law-enforcers in different areas of Sukkur district on Friday.

SSP Amjad Shaikh said that police received information that two members of Kashmir Jatoi Gang were to arrive at a meeting place in a village where the criminals often hid after having committed crimes.

A police team went to arrest the dacoits but when they saw the police coming closer to them, they opened fire at the law-enforcers who fired back and gunned down two dacoits, he said.

He said that police had taken the dead bodies into their custody, were later ascertained to be Gul Bahar Jatoi and Masroor alias Hero Jatoi who were wanted by police in several cases of heinous crimes such as snatching, theft, robberies, dacoities, encounter with police and other crimes. Police were gathering criminal record of the deceased dacoits from different police stations in Sukkur district and other areas.

District police said that they had arrested another wanted criminal, Ali Sher Mirani, after an encounter near Miandad Link Road within the limits of SITE police station. The dacoit fell wounded in the encounter and police found a weapon and bullets in his custody, said officials.

They said that police had arrested another criminal, Shehzad Shaikh, after he suffered injuries in an encounter near custom Naka in Rohri. A pistol and bullets were recovered from him, said the officials.

Man killed in clash

A man was killed and five, among them a woman, were wounded in a clash between families of a man and his nephews over a piece of agricultural land in Gulab Banglani village within the limits of B-Section police station in Thull taluka, Jacobabad district, on Friday.

The families attacked each other with sophisticated weapons leading to murder of 30-yearl-old Mohammad Ameen, son of Abdul Rehman Banglani, and gunshot wounds to Zulfiqar Banglani, Mor Banglani, Adam Banglani, Fazal Banglani and a woman, said villagers.

They said that both sides were shooting intermittently at each other from their positions, creating fear and panic in the village. The dead body and the wounded were shifted to taluka hospital. Two of the injured were later referred to a major hospital in adjacent district due to their precarious condition.

They said the dead body had been handed over to heirs after completion of medico-legal formalities. The two families had been at daggers drawn with each other over a disputed piece of agricultural land in the village, they said.

Published in Dawn, June 15th, 2024