SUKKUR, Dec 27: The Mirpur Mathelo police on Thursday presented a man before local journalists claiming that he was notorious dacoit Meer Turat, who carried the head money of Rs500,000, and was arrested after an encounter at Ahmed Wah along the Dad Leghari link road earlier in the day.

SHO of the Mirpur Mathelo police station Nisar Ahmed Bullo said that a police party spotted Turat and his two companions, Liaquat and Sadar, riding a motorcycle on the link road. He said the police party intercepted them and tried to arrest them but the three men opened fire.

The police returned fire and after the encounter Turat was arrested, he said, adding that his companions managed to flee.

Rejecting the police claim, Turat said he had already surrendered himself to the police about a year back. No encounter had taken place today and the police were trying to fix me in a fake criminal case,” he added.