DERA GHAZI KHAN, July 15: The Chhotu Mazari gang freed 12 hostages on Monday, including eight policemen who were held hostage and abducted eight days ago from Kachi Jamal, in the remit of Shahwali police of Rajanpur.

Though Regional Police Officer Akhtar Umer Hayat Lalika denied the reports of police striking a deal with the Chhotu gang, former MPA Zahid Mazari confirmed that hostages were freed as a result of a deal with the ringleader.

Alleged gangster Ghulam Rasool, alias Chhotu, had presented three demands — release his brother and two other people from the Bahawalpur jail, remove police pickets from the riverside of the Indus in Rajanpur, and withdraw criminal cases against him and his gang.

If Mr Mazari’s statement is to be believed, it is a matter of time that the gang’s demands will be realised.

Sources said the government had already released the criminal from the jail and all posts from the Kacha had been removed.

Dawn could not verify the claims from independent sources.

Since the abduction of nine officials on July 7, of them one constable Abbas died in the captivity, the police did not fire any shot at the gang and entered into talks with them ensuring the safe release of their colleagues.