KARACHI, Nov 5: A 30-year-old man, booked in a murder case, died on Tuesday in police custody.

The grieving family alleged that Krishn Chandar was tortured to death by the Sharea Faisal police, who in turn claimed that the young suspect died of cardiac arrest.

The victim was booked in the murder case of his maternal uncle, Ameet Kumar, on Oct 11 in Gulistan-i-Jauhar.

Krishn’s brother, Pheromal, told Dawn that his brother was actually kidnapped by the killers of Ameet Kumar.

He said the kidnappers threw his brother at a desolate place near New Sabzi Mandi off the Super Highway two days back.

The victim’s brother said he took his brother to the police as he was booked in the murder case.

“He was tortured to death in the custody of DSP Hafeez Junejo and his subordinates,” he said.

He said the police told him that his brother was admitted to the Civil Hospital as he was critically ill. “When I, along with other relatives, reached the hospital, I was told that Krishn was brought there dead,” he added.

The body was then kept at the Edhi morgue and a postmortem was conducted on Wednesday by a board of doctors, comprising Prof Farhat Mirza, a forensic expert in the Dow University of Health Sciences, Dr Hamid Ali Parhyar, the police surgeon, and Medico-legal Officer Dr Karar Hussain, in the presence of the EDO (Revenue) under Section 176 of the Criminal Procedure Code.

The police surgeon said that the postmortem report had been reserved till the receipt of a chemical examination report. However, one of the board members, who did not wish to be named, told Dawn that the victim’s body bore several marks of torture on the buttocks, shoulders, hands and feet.

Ransom victim recovered

A seven-year-old boy, who was kidnapped in the morning, was recovered unharmed by a joint team of the Citizens-Police Liaison Committee and the Anti-violent Crime Cell.

Officials said the victim, Abeer Kashif, son of Kashif Raees, was kidnapped by four occupants of a Suzuki Cultus in front of his Federal B Area house in the morning, when he was waiting for his school bus. They said the kidnappers called the victim’s father, a garment factory owner, and demanded Rs1.5 million for his son’s release.

The officials said the kidnappers agreed to accept Rs400,000 and asked the victim’s father to bring the money to a designated place in Sector 11-D, New Karachi.They said the four kidnappers with the victim reached the spot on two motorcycles to receive the ransom. The officials said the victim was recovered unharmed and one of the kidnappers was caught red-handed, but the three others fled.

The arrested suspect was identified as Shahzad, who identified his accomplices as Asif, Jamal and Javed.

The officials said that the kidnapping was masterminded by Asif, who was an employee of the victim’s father.

They said the area police also coordinated with the joint team on the instruction of the SSP of Gulberg, Alauddin Abbasi.

Kamran Tessori held

Gold trader Kamran Tessori, who had reportedly fled from police custody in June, was arrested at the airport where he had arrived from Islamabad.

The Docks police said he was arrested in a case pertaining to a shootout with the police in July.

Mr Tessori, with his brother Imran Tessori and friend Mohammed Khalid Siddiqui, was booked in the case (FIR 112/08) for attacking the police party to avoid arrest near the Hawkesbay beach on July 26.

Kamran Tessori, the main accused in an alleged land fraud case, reportedly escaped from police custody in Makli, Thatta, on June 18 when he was being taken to identify the location of the proposed Gold City project for which former chief minister Arbab Rahim had allotted him 80 acres for industrial purposes. This land belonged to the historical Makli graveyard.

According to police, Mr Tessori escaped from police custody when he was being shifted to Badin, where Gul Mohammad had lodged a complaint against Mr Tessori for defrauding him.

Contrary to the Sindh government and police claim that Kamran escaped from police custody in Tando Bago, the suspect’s family alleged that he was kidnapped by police in Karachi and released on payment of Rs60 million, which was allegedly received by a front man of the CM’s adviser.

PQR man shot dead

A 32-year-old head constable of the Pakistan Qaumi Razakar (PQR) was killed in Korangi when an unknown man opened fire on him.The police said Wazir Ali was on duty with Lal Dad when he spotted a suspicious-looking man.

They said the man opened fire, fatally wounding the PQR official, who died on his way to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre. Sources at the hospital’s medico-legal section told Dawn that the victim received a fatal bullet wound in the chest.