KARACHI, Jan 21 The Special Anti-corruption Court headed by Rashida Asad on Thursday indicted six policemen and officials of the Central Prison Karachi in an extortion, torture and corruption case.

Two assistant jail superintendents, Nazeer Hussain Shah and Shakeel Arbab, a former jail superintendent, Pir Shahbbir Jan Sirhandi, and three constables, Maqam, Mohammad Sharif and Akram, have been accused of collecting bribes from inmates of the prison.

They pleaded not guilty and opted to contest the case when the judge read out the charge-sheet.

The court summoned the prosecution witnesses and directed them to record their testimonies on Feb 8.

According to the prosecution, Pir Shahbbir Jan Sirhandi during his tenure as jail superintendent, along with his subordinate staff, tortured an undertrial lodged in the prison and extorted from him a bribe of over Rs3.5 million.

The FIR registered against the policemen and jail officials states that the prisoner, Ijaz Memon, was arrested on July 6, 2008 by the Jackson police on charges of drugs and weapons trafficking. He was later remanded in jail custody and lodged in the Central Prison Karachi where Sirhandi was the jail superintendent. Sirhandi demanded Rs1.3 million from the prisoner in exchange for some facilities during his captivity, the FIR said.

It alleged that Sirhandi received a total of Rs3.5 million from the prisoner a number of times by using the names of two prominent political figures. The amount was paid to him through the prisoner's manager, it added.

Assistant jail superintendent Nazeer Hussain Shah, along with constables Sharif and Akram, has been accused of collecting weekly bhatta (protection money) amounting to Rs200,000-Rs300,000 by torturing different prisoners in jail. The constables used to receive the extorted amounts and hand them over to the jail superintendent, the FIR said, adding that the other assistant jail superintendent, Shakeel Arbab, along with constable Maqam, extorted Rs15,000 to Rs20,000 from prisoners in a similar manner and handed over the amount to Sirhandi.

After conducting an inquiry, the Anti-corruption Establishment Karachi registered a case (FIR No 27/08) on Aug 12, 2008 against the suspects under Sections 161 (public servant taking gratification other than legal remuneration in respect of an official act) and 34(common intention) of the Pakistan Penal Code read with Section 5(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1947 on the complaint of Ijaz Memon. All the suspects are out on bail.

The court also reserved its order on a plea for confirmation of the interim pre-arrest bails of three of the suspects till the next hearing.