HYDERABAD, March 5: The senior vice-chairman of the Jeay Sindh Muttahida Mahaz, Samiullah Kalhoro, died in a Karachi hospital on Friday.

He was admitted to the hospital following his escape from police custody in Hala in the second week of February.

Kalhoro along with another JSMM leader, Fayyaz Janwari, was picked up from Jamshoro in November and they were interrogated about a series of bomb explosions blowing power transmission lines in Dadu, Jamshoro and railway tracks in Tando Adam. They were kept at different places including Karachi.

The pace of police action against the JSMM accelerated in the wake of a powerful explosion, causing damage to one of the foundation pillars of Hyderabad by-pass on January 18.

After his escape, Kalhoro, at a press conference in Karachi, narrated details of how he was grilled by police.

A constitutional petition filed by his brother Hujatullah in the Sindh High Court, seeking his recovery, is still pending.

Our Dadu Correspondent adds: Different areas of Mehar remained closed on Saturday to mourn the death of Kalhoro. JSMM workers gathered at the residence of the deceased in the Abbasi Muhallo and staged a protest rally.

The brothers of the deceased, Naimatullah Kalhoro and Hafizullah Kalhoro, while talking to journalists, demanded registration of an FIR against SP (investigation) Pir Fareed Jan Sarhandi and the officers of law enforcement agencies.

They said their brother had been in custody of the investigation police for 90 days and alleged he was subjected to such a severe torture that he was unable to walk and kept bleeding. He had lost eye sight as well, they added.