HYDERABAD, Sept 8: Residents of Unit-11 of Latifabad held a demonstration outside the press club on Monday, seeking reinstatement of the SHO of A-section police station, Afzal Qureshi, who had been suspended by DPO Ghulam Nabi Memon over Sunday’s incident.

The protesters raised slogans in SHO’s support and said that he was a good officer and had done a good thing by arresting Fayaz Memon. The SHO faced suspension because he had apprehended a land-grabber, they alleged.

The SHO had arrested Memon who was wanted in a number of cases about encroachment of land near protective bund in Latifabad, some of which was owned by Mirza Ashiq Baig, a local PPP leader in Mahar Ali Housing Scheme. Memon had though obtained pre-arrest bail.

A mob had laid siege to the police station and asked police to release Memon, who was himself an ex-policeman. The SHO, in the meantime, got Memon’s bail documents verified and then had to release him on personal bond.

The protesters had lit bonfires and some of them, according to eyewitnesses, had tried to commit self-immolation to pressurise police to release Memon.

Mr. Baig’s manager, Kareem Bux Khaskheli, had complained about Memon’s release to the DPO who then suspended the SHO and asked SP of city Qamar Raza Jaskani to conduct an inquiry against him.