QUETTA: Members of a Joint Investigation Team (JIT) questioned death row prisoner and former Muttahida Quami Movement (MQM) worker Saulat Mirza in Balochistan's Machh jail on Wednesday.

Security was beefed up in and around Machh jail in view of the JIT members' visit.

A 10-member JIT investigated Mirza for six hours. A Machh jail officer, who did not want to be named, told Dawn.com that Mirza was shifted from his death cell to the Jail Superintendent's office for questioning.

Following the questioning, Mirza was shifted back to his cell, the officer said. The investigating team then travelled to Quetta amid tight security.

Mirza had levelled serious allegations against MQM chief Altaf Hussain, Governor Sindh Dr Ishratul Ibad and MQM leader Babar Ghauri in a video broadcast hours before his scheduled execution on March 19.

Following the broadcast that changed the country's political atmosphere, President Mamnoon Hussain had extended Mirza's execution.

Know more: Killed KESC chief on Altaf Hussain's orders, Saulat Mirza claims

Amir Sheikh, Deputy Inspector General Police Karachi, is leading the JIT to probe the allegations leveled by Mirza.

Officers of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), Military Intelligence, Intelligence Bureau and police are also part of the JIT which was formed by the Sindh government in the wake of Mirza's fresh allegations.

Members of the JIT proceeded from Quetta to Machh amid tight security.

Also read: JIT to probe Saulat Mirza’s allegations formed

MQM has denied Mirza’s allegations and party lawmakers have called the video statement a “mockery of things”. They have appealed to Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan to look into the broadcast which they say has no legal value.

Mirza was found guilty of murdering the then managing director (MD) of Karachi Electric Supply Corporation (KESC), now K-electric, Malik Shahid Hamid, his driver Ashraf Brohi, and his guard Khan Akbar outside Hamid's residence in DHA on July 5, 1997.

His name first appeared on intelligence and security agencies’ radar in 1994 after the killing of two US diplomats at Karachi’s Shahrah-i-Faisal and the murder of four workers of an American oil company, Union Texas, near PIDC bridge.

He was believed to have been arrested from Karachi airport after his arrival from Bangkok and the police had confirmed his arrest at a press conference on Dec 11, 1998.

During that press conference held in the presence of then Karachi DIG Ameen Qureshi, Mirza had made spoken about his involvement in the murders of scores of innocent people, including several high-profile personalities.