SUKKUR, Sept 1: Sindh Home Minister M. A. Rauf Siddiqui has directed a police investigating team to constitute a medical board, comprising doctors from Hyderabad and Karachi, to re-examine criminal assault victim Saima Abro.

The minister issued the order during a meeting with a six-member team, led by the DPO, investigation, Nisar Channa, at the circuit house here on Wednesday. The team informed the minister that the father of the girl, Rajab Abro, had expressed satisfaction over the medical report prepared by four woman doctors of the Sukkur Civil Hospital and had given in writing that he did not want re-examination of his daughter.

However, the minister asked the team to constitute another medical board because Mr Rajab might have given the statement under pressure from some quarters. When this correspondent contacted the DPO, he said the inquiry had almost been completed and all people involved in the case had been interrogated.

He said the girl's father in his statement had said he was not a complainant in the gang-rape case, registered on Aug 19. He said Mr Rajab had submitted many applications from Aug 12 to Aug 19 but there had been no mention of the gang-rape.

He said the house where the girl had been reportedly assaulted was opposite the house of the girl's aunt, who during investigation had claimed that no such incident had taken place.

The DPO denied arrests of relatives of Mr Rajab and said they had expressed satisfaction over the investigation. He said teacher Robina Soomro was in custody at a safe place. He said the teacher had nothing to do with class VII, in which Saima studied, and the girl's name was also not included in the tableau.

He said investigation had revealed that character of one Gulsher, who was also in custody, was not good. He said the statement of Rana Khaliq Dad, a clerk in Hesco who is residing in the house of Mr Rajab since 1992 but is not his relative, had also been recorded.

Earlier, Mr Dad used to drive pickup of Mr Rajab. Earlier, talking to journalists, the home minister said he had directed police authorities for safe recovery of trader Santosh Kumar.