MIRPURKHAS, Aug 10: Police produced on Friday an accused in the Mannu Bheel case in the court of civil judge and judicial magistrate in Digri. A police team, comprising the SP (investigations), Sanghar, Imdad Solangi, SP Abid Kaimkhani and Inspector Mushtaq Jatt, arrested Mansingh Bheel, son of Aambo Bheel, resident of village Mohammed Hayat Rind, Tharparkar district, and produced him before civil judge and judicial magistrate Nadeem Badar Qazi for obtaining remand and recording his confessional statement.

The court granted one-day judicial remand after recording his statement under Section 164 of the Criminal Procedure Code.

Mansingh told the court that he had relations with the Bheel family as he and Mannu were the peasants of landlord Mohammed Hayat. Before the kidnapping of his family members, Mannu had shifted to the land of landlord Abdul Rehman Mari in the Sanghar district by Mari’s manager Natho Bheel after obtaining a loan of Rs200,000, he said.

Mansingh further said that after some time Natho Bheel told him that Mannu, along with his family members, had left Mari’s land.

He said one day Ratno Bheel and Natho Bheel took him forcibly to a petrol pump near Naukot where landlord Basheer Punjabi and Shabbir Kaimkhani were sitting in a vehicle. He said he was taken to the Hussain Chanihoon village.

Manzoor Chanihoon, son of Hussain Chanihoon and Abdul Rehman Mari along with dozens of armed men reached there in the night.

Then he and Natho Bheel were taken to the Paryal Memon village where family members of Mannu Bheel, including his children, mother, father and brother and a guest Kirto Bheel, were present.

Mansingh added that the Bheel family members and his guest were made to sit in the vehicles at gunpoint. He said he was dropped near Jhuddo while landlord Mari and others including armed men took Bheel family members and his guest away.

The Bheel family members were kidnapped on May 2, 1998 and an FIR under sections 365 and 34 of the Pakistan Penal Code was lodged with Jhuddo police on May 4, 1998. The kidnapped people included Mannu’s father Khero Bheel, 70, mother Akko, 60, wife Mota 40, brother Jalal, 25, daughters Moomal, 13, Deli, 2, sons Chaman, 10, and Kanji, 8, and guest Kirto.

Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry had taken suo motu notice of the kidnapping on a letter of an activist of a Swedish NGO.

Mirpurkhas DIG Farooq Ahmed Leghari had formed six police teams a few weeks back for investigation and recovery of the kidnapped persons.

The main accused landlord Abdul Rehman Mari was in central jail, Hyderabad, while another accused Choudhry Basheer has died.