KARACHI, Nov 20: A court on Monday gave police remand of an accused facing a blasphemy case till November 23. Police had registered a blasphemy case against a man who was apparently seeking pecuniary help from different people by sending pages from the Holy Quran attached with an appeal letter.

One such recipient of the letter eventually got Omar Daraz, 36, a laborer arrested by promising him that he is ready to extend help.

The letter states “Omar has four unmarried sisters and he is unable to bear expenditures of their marriage. It was for this reason that several proposals for his sisters could not materialise.

“Initially, someone put an indecent demand before me, which compelled me to attach a pages from the holy book so that no one could dare think of such an indecent proposition,” Omar told police.

Complainant Abdul Hafeez and Zaheeruddin employees at the Aga’s Super Market entrapped Omar and lodged the FIR 269/2006 under Section 295-B.

After verifying the particulars of Omar Daraz, an official of Clifton police station where the FIR was registered told Dawn that they tried to persuade the complainant to desist from lodging the FIR as there will be nobody to look after his four sisters.

Parents of the Omar Daraz died in a road accident in Muzaffarabad in 1994. Later, he moved to Karachi and settled down in the shanty locality of Hijrat Colony.Police said that Omar worked as loader to earn his living.

Clifton Town Police Officer SP Azad Khan told Dawn that Omar Daraz was not insane. He said someone might opt for this to gain publicity in an effort to get asylum abroad.

However, he said all these were probabilities and facts could be established after complete investigation.