LARKANA: Fareed Haslo, the suspected killer of a schoolteacher, Sadaf Haslo, was finally tracked down and arrested more than 50 days after he had gone into hiding.

A bounty of Rs2.5m was recently announced for anyone who could provide authentic information about his whereabouts to facilitate his arrest.

The Sindh High Court, Larkana circuit bench, had also repeatedly asked the police officers concerned to come out with some result- oriented actions but they could not satisfy the court with their performance until Friday (May 30) morning, when the latest proceedings were held.

Only a day earlier, Sindh Inspector General of Police (IGP) Ghulam Nabi Memon had acknowledged negligence on the part of the police officials concerned, saying that they should have ensured Sadaf’s security when she had approached them with such request days before she was murdered.

Qambar-Shahdadkot SSP Sajid Amir Sadozai on Friday held a press conference to give details about the arrest.

He claimed that a team consisting of Qambar, Shahdadkot and Warah SSPs, along with IT branch in-charge Mohammad Ali Khokhar and SI Nek Mohammad Khoso (of the Hyderabad police) arrested Fareed Haslo.

“The team conducted a raid on the home of a lawyer, Abdul Qadir Khoso, in Sindhi Bataro village within the limits of the Radhan police station, situated near Mehar town of Dadu district, and arrested Fareed Haslo. Lawyer Khoso was also arrested for facilitating the suspect’s escape from arrest. The motorcycle used in the crime was recovered. A search for the crime weapon, a pistol, is under way,” SSP Sadozi said, adding that Koso provided food, shelter and assistance to the suspect.

According initial police report, Fareed had shot dead Sadaf in Qambar city on April 7 for rejecting his marriage proposal. He went into hiding after committing the crime.

SSP Sadozai said that arrest of the murder suspect was a big challenge to the Sindh police and ultimately a reward of Rs2.5 million was announced for information leading to his arrest.

The SSP claimed that during the preliminary inquiry, the suspect confessed to have shot dead Sadaf and that he had been staying at the home of his friend, Abdul Qadir Khoso, since then.

The senior police officer said that it was also being investigated that who provided pistol to the suspect and if there were other people who assisted in the crime.

Dadu police also claim credit

SSP Sadozi of the Qambar-Shahdadkot district told journalists that the Rs2.5 million reward would be distributed among the three DSPs, IT branch officer, SI Nek Mohammad Khoso and other members of the police team who tracked down and arrested the suspect.

SSP Sadozi said that the Dadu SSP was wrongly claiming that the arrest was made by a police team of his district.

He insisted that the credit of this breakthrough in the challenging case went to the team he had mentioned. SSP Sadozai argued that the suspect, Fareed Haslo, had been living in [an area falling within] Dadu district for so many weeks and why he could not be arrested by that district’s police.

Fareed Haslo was not produced before the media during the press conference, nor were the family members of Sadaf Haslo present there.

Published in Dawn, May 31st, 2025