HYDERABAD, June 12: The Sindh High Court, Hyderabad circuit bench, on Tuesday directed Hyderabad SP (investigations) Khalid Mustafa Korai to appear before the court and produce a list of cases pending against an alleged criminal, Rahim Detho, on June 15.

The order was passed by Justice Ameer Hani Muslim on a criminal miscellaneous application filed by Detho's counsel Sherbaz Khoso. He also filed a criminal miscellaneous application on behalf of Detho's wife Shaista Parveen.

Mr Shaukat appeared before the court and said that the criminal had escaped during Monday’s search operation. The DPO had turned up in the court in response to Monday's directive of Justice Muslim that Detho should be produced before the court. The DPO denied that Detho had surrendered before the police or that he was arrested on Monday.

His statement was disputed by the applicant's counsel who said that Detho was arrested from the spot and he would produce material substantiating his arrest. He said that he apprehended that Detho may be killed by police in a fake encounter.

The DPO said that in case of the arrest, the accused would be produced before the courts where he was facing trial. With his statement, the DPO filed a list of 58 cases against Detho and another list of 12 cases against Nasir alias Rashid Qureshi, who was killed in Monday's encounter.

The second list was disputed by the applicant's counsel on the ground that Qureshi had never been involved in any case. He sought time to present material in support of his contention.

The DPO (operations) said that he could not make a statement as to whether cases in which Detho was required had been finalised by criminal courts and what was the stage of the trials.

The DPO stated that no one had approached him regarding surrender of Detho therefore allegations mentioned in the application were not correct. He said that applicant had filed a false application to create hindrances in the arrest of Detho and his accomplices.

Shaista Parveen in her statement said that on Monday a heavy contingent of police, led by the DPO and the SP, laid a siege to the areas of Allahdad Chand Goth, Talab No.3 and Mukhi Bagh and started aerial firing. She said that at the instance of the SP, police killed Qureshi. She said that Detho was arrested and added that her husband had apprehended that he may be tortured and killed by the police therefore he may be sent to jail custody.