ISLAMABAD, Jan 10: The father of Shahrukh Jatoi, the main suspect in the Shahzeb Khan murder case, was arrested moments after he stepped out of the Supreme Court building on Thursday after a three-judge bench had distanced itself from his request for relief.

When the bench closed its proceeding in the murder case, Sikander Jatoi was encircled by personnel of Sindh police.

Twenty-year-old Shahzeb, son of Deputy Superintendent of Police Aurangzeb Khan, was gunned down on the night between Dec 24 and 25 when he was returning home, along with his sister, after attending a wedding at the Country Club Apartments in Karachi. After the heinous murder, hundreds of people gathered outside the Karachi Press Club and requested the chief justice to take notice of police failure to arrest the killers.

The Lahore High Court had granted Sikander Jatoi a protective bail for a day on his commitment that he would appear before the Supreme Court on Thursday.

But Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, who heads the bench, pointed out that the apex court had neither called him nor issued any notice for his appearance.“He has to join the investigation with police and besides making this observation, we cannot give any further relief to him,” the chief justice said.

Senior counsel Abdul Hafeez Pirzada, representing Sikander Jatoi, said his client was willing to abide by the law and join the investigation but regretted that he, along with his wife, had to get the protection because they were being harassed.

The counsel insisted that he was appearing as officer of the court to assist it but pleaded to grant a direction to police that his client would not be humiliated. “His women folks have been dragged out of their houses and paraded in television channels and his own channel and cement factories have been shut,” he said. Advocate General of Sindh Abdul Fateh Malik informed the court that an arrest warrant had been issued against Sikander Jatoi and, therefore, police would arrest him.

“Instead of running here and there, he (Sikander) should ask his son to join the investigations,” the chief justice said, adding that the court would not guarantee that he would not be arrested.

“He (Sikander) has paid a lot in terms of humiliation,” Mr Pirzada said.

Deputy Inspector General Shahid Hayat informed the court that Interpol in Abu Dhabi had said that Shahrukh Jatoi had been living in the UAE since Dec 27.

When asked by the court how the suspect had escaped from the country, the DIG said police were investigating the matter.

Senior Superintendent of Police Niaz Khosa had left for Dubai to arrest Shahrukh, DIG Hayat said, adding that efforts were being made to bring him back to the country.

The chief justice was not satisfied with a police report and observed that apparently police had not shown interest in arresting the culprits. The hearing was adjourned to January 16.

Our Staff Reporter in Karachi adds: Sikandar Jatoi was brought to Karachi from Islamabad on Thursday night. He was taken to a police station in an armoured personal carrier escorted by several police mobiles.