KARACHI, Sept 11: The Sindh High Court suspended on Monday a provincial government notification regarding shifting of an under-trial brother of a federal minister from the Central Prison, Karachi to the Hyderabad jail and barred the removal of his custody from Karachi till further orders.

The interim order came on a petition moved by Sardar Sher Mohammad Rind, younger brother of Sardar Yar Mohammad Rind, who expressed apprehension about his life if he was transferred to the Hyderabad jail.

He alleged that his brother was using state machinery to dispossess him of agricultural land measuring 1200 acres and houses in Nawabshah as there was a longstanding dispute over distribution of their ancestral property.

The petitioner also alleged that the registration of ‘a false case’ against him in Nawabshah was aimed at compelling him to reach a settlement with his brother.

He and his four bodyguards were arrested by the Nawabshah police on March 28 for possessing illegal weapons and explosive substance. He was first imprisoned at the Sukkur jail and later shifted to the Central Prison, Karachi.

The Sindh home department issued a notification on August 16 for his shifting to the Hyderabad for trial in jail, which he was also challenging.

Appearing for the petitioner, Advocate Raja Qureshi requested the court to set aside the impugned notification as the petitioner feared that he might be killed like Hasan Gichki on transfer from one jail to another. The jail trial was unlawful in the light of an SHC division bench judgment, he argued.

A division bench, comprising Justices Sarmad Jalal Osmany and Mohammad Afzal Soomro, suspended the impugned notification after preliminary hearing and restrained the jail authorities from transferring his custody.

Notices were issued to the home department, the inspector-general of prisons and other respondents besides the advocate-general for Sept 15.