July 23, 2006	Sunday	Jumadi-ul-Sani 26, 1427

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KARACHI, July 22: Five criminals, who were picked up by the police, managed to ‘escape’ from the lockup late on Saturday night.

An elected representative of the City government on condition of anonymity said that a notorious criminal, Imran alias Munna 125, had been caught by local residents and handed over to the police from the Islam Chowk area in Orangi Town a couple of days ago. He had been handed over to the Pakistan Bazaar police. The police was interrogating Imran and the police had picked up four of his partners in crime on information provided by him. However, the source said that the police had not shown their arrest on their record and had made an underhand deal with them.

The public representative claimed that police allegedly received Rs1 million for the release of the alleged criminals. He said that the main suspect, Imran, was allegedly involved in more than 18 cases of murder, robberies, and others. His accomplices were Bahadur Dakait, Faisal Fauji, Mehboob Alam, and Meraj Mullah. After their escape from the lockup, people feared that criminals would exact retribution, he added.

The DIG Operations Mushtaq Shah said that one suspect had escaped after breaking the lockup. “I have come to know that there were more persons who had escaped and I am looking into it. I have constituted an inquiry committee into the matter”, he added.

The SHO Pakistan Bazaar was suspended for dereliction of duty.