KARACHI, June 28: The wife of Mufti Zakir Hussain Siddiqui, who is in police custody for his alleged involvement in last year’s Nishtar Park bomb blast, on Thursday claimed that her husband was innocent and his arrest was aimed at getting cash prizes and other awards.

Speaking at a press conference here at the Karachi Press Club, she said her husband was a religious scholar, running Madressa Islamia at Mujahid Colony, Nazimabad No 4, where about 400 students were getting religious education.

The seminary provided food, clothes and medical care to its students, she said, adding that her husband did not belong to any political or religio-political party.

She appealed to the Supreme Court of Pakistan, the Sindh High Court and activists of human rights organisations to help release her husband.

She was flanked by her brother Ismail who was also picked up by security agencies but was released after interrogation. He said he was tortured and then released far away from his residence.

Mufti Zakir’s wife said police used to call her husband from time to time and once kept him in custody for four months at an unknown location and released him when confirmed that he was not involved in any terrorist activity.

“SP Raja Umar Khitab had been harassing my husband for the last 10 months by calling him to his office at short intervals, but he always obeyed police orders and never hesitated to visit the police station,” she said.

She said the police always apologised at the time of his release, but they did not give up the habit of calling him. She alleged that police had also taken two cellphones and a cheque book of the seminary’s account in custody.