KARACHI: The lawyer for the main suspect in the Zohra Shahid murder case said that the accused man is being subjected to brutal torture by the police.

Muhammad Jiwani — the lawyer of Abdul Kaleem who Rangers say was arrested a day earlier — said that law enforcement agencies are subjecting his client to intense torture due to which he was unable to stand.

The defense counsel added that Kaleem is passing blood in his urine and that his feet are swollen as a result of this torture.

Jiwani said that the earlier challans presented did not state Kaleem's name in column number two, nor was Kaleem's role in the crime indicated.

A Civil Hospital medical superintendent has been instructed to do a medical checkup of him before presenting a report on his condition.

An Anti-Terrorism Court in Karachi today remanded the prime accused in the Zohra Shahid murder case, Abdul Kaleem, to the police for seven days.

The Pakistan Rangers, Sindh, claimed on Wednesday to have arrested the key suspect in the May 2013 murder case of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) leader Zohra Shahid.

The Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) acknowledged the man as its worker and alleged that he had been picked up last month from Clifton. The MQM said a case regarding his ‘disappearance’ was fixed to be heard by the Sindh High Court.

According to a Rangers spokesman, personnel of the paramilitary force conducted an intelligence-based surgical action near Teen Talwar intersection in Clifton and arrested a ‘notorious target killer’, Kaleem.

“The arrested target killer is involved in numerous murders, including the targeted killing of PTI leader Zohra Shahid,” a brief statement issued by the spokesman said.

The suspect was being handed over to police, it concluded.

The Rangers press release did not mention the affiliation of the suspect with any organisation.

However, a statement issued by the MQM said Abdul Kaleem had been picked up by Rangers from his tailoring shop in Gulf Shopping Mall on Feb 25 and taken to an undisclosed place.