KARACHI, July 26: Gold trader Kamran Tessori, who reportedly fled from police custody last month, has been booked here by the Docks police in a case pertaining to a shootout with police.

The SP of Keamari, Rao Anwar Ahmed, told Dawn that Mr Tessori, his brother, Imran Tessori, and a friend, Mohammed Khalid Siddiqui, was booked in the case (FIR 112/08) for attacking the police party to avoid their arrest near Hawksbay beach on Friday.

Docks police said a police party, headed by SHO Inspector Nasir ul Hasan, was on their way to raid the hut No. N-31 at Sands Pit on a tip-off in the evening when they spotted a Suzuki Alto car whose registration number could not be noted down.

They said the occupants of the car opened fire on the police party when they signalled the suspects to stop.

The police said the raiding party also returned fire but the suspects managed to flee.

On July 23, a local court ordered the police to register a case of kidnapping of the gold trader on the application of the suspect’s grandmother.

The applicant pleaded that police have not registered the case of kidnap of her grandson Kamran Tessori and accused that government officials and provincial interior minister are responsible for the kidnapping. Therefore, the court should order the police to register a case of kidnapping.

Kamran Tessori, the main accused in an alleged land fraud case, reportedly escaped from police custody in Makli, Thatta, on June 18 when he was being taken to identify the location of the proposed Gold City project for which former chief minister Arbab Rahim had allotted him 80 acres for industrial purposes. This land belonged to the historical Makli graveyard.

According to police, Tessori escaped from the police custody when he was being shifted to Badin, where Gul Muhammad had lodged a complaint against Tessori for defrauding him.

Contrary to the Sindh government and police claim that Kamran managed to escape from police custody from Tando Bago (interior of Sindh), the family member of Kamran Khan alleged that he was kidnapped by police from Karachi and released after paying Rs60 million which was allegedly received by a frontman of the CM’s adviser.

In her petition before the SHC, Tessori’s grandmother also accused the Sindh IG and other police personnel of trespassing their residence in Defence on June 21 and committing a robbery by illegally removing four vehicles, gold, cash and six or seven cheques of Habib Bank.

The sources said former chief minister Arbab Ghulam Rahim had allotted 80 acres in Makli in the name of Irfan Khan Tessori, brother of Kamran Tessori, while 54 acres were allotted in the name of Akhtar Ali Khan (Kamran’s father) in Deh Safoora. Moreover, 10 acres were allotted to a firm and five acres to Akhtar Ali Khan in Bitti, Amiri.

The police, however, said the suspect was wanted in two cases registered at Tando Bhago.