HARIPUR, Aug 2: An absconding outlaw has voluntarily surrendered to police here, officials said on Sunday. The absconder reached the office of the District Police Officer and surrendered in the presence of newsmen and leading citizens.

The accused, Mohammad Safdar Khan of Kaloo Pind village, was allegedly involved in several murder cases and had been absconding since March 1995. He was nominated in FIRs registered at Kot Najibullah police station during March-April 1995, November 1995, November 1997 and November 2001 for killing Taj Mohammad, Aurangzeb, Abdul Sattar, Aksan Khan, Babar Khan and Ghulam Mustafa Khan, respectively.

Police officials said that Safdar also allegedly served as a hired assassin for some powerful local people and groups engaged in old enmities. Sources said that he was involved in a number of other murder cases in which he had not been directly nominated in FIRs.

Meanwhile, Safdar told journalists that he had "abstained" from committing robberies or other such offences during the intervening period, adding that he was often at odds with other groups who showed any tendency to loot the citizens.