HYDERABAD, April 24: The mother of Hafiz Rafi Mustafa Shaikh, who declined to disclose her name, has expressed fear that her son might either be handed over to the US , implicated in false cases or killed in fake police encounter.

Speaking at a news conference with her other son Mohammad Rushd, she alleged that the last year in September under the orders of the former RPO, the former In-charge Madadgar police, Rana Shafique and the former SHO Cantonment police station, Rao Amir Iqbal with a heavy contingent of police had raided her house in Khokhar Mohalla and picked up her son Eng Mohammad Rushd.

She alleged that her son was tortured at the police station as police wanted to extract a confessional statement from him.

She said that a writ petition was filed in the Sindh High Court, Hyderabad circuit, and the raid commissioner under the orders of the court conducted raids but could not find her son.

She said her family was threatened with dire consequences but Rushd was freed after 21 days.

She said that on Oct 2, 2003, the former RPO held a press conference in the DPO's office and disclosed that the police had raided the house of Rafi Mustafa and arrested Zahid Mushtaq, Amjad and Saleem and recovered explosives and weapons from their possession.

She said that the RPO also claimed that the accused had planned to attack foreign engineers. She said that her son Rafi Mustafa and five others were shown as absconders. She said that the statement of RPO was exposed when in the FIR, the arrest of the accused was shown from the Barrage Colony.

She said her son Rafi Mustafa was arrested by the Karachi police from Manghopir on Oct 19, 2003 and handed over to an intelligence agency on Oct 21, 2003 but his arrest was not shown on record.

She said her son was tortured at various police stations for 30 days and his arrest was shown on Nov 17, 2003 from the Barrage Colony and he was sent to jail.

She said her son was ordered to be released on bail of Rs100,000 by the Sindh High Court on April 8, 2004. She said that on April 21 when the release order of her son was delivered to the Hyderabad central jail authority by the court staff, her son was taken away by the Anti-dacoit and Robbery Cell of district police in a jail van.

She said since then the whereabouts of her son are not known.She said that the family had learnt that he might be handed over to the American investigation agency or implicated in false cases. She feared that he might be killed in a false encounter. She said the family was threatened by the police to keep quiet.