HYDERABAD, June 18: A shopkeeper of Sakrand, Nawabshah district, has threatened to observe a token hunger strike along with his brother and nephew outside the Hyderabad Press Club if no action was taken against officials concerned of the ADBP and the Nawabshah jail superintendent who humiliated and tortured him.

The shopkeeper, Abdul Majeed Mangio, along with his brother, Nizamuddin Mangio, and nephew, Zulfiqar Ali, was speaking at a news conference at the press club here on Tuesday.

He said that on June 12, the officials of the ADBP, Qazi Ahmed and Yousuf Ansari, came to his shop along with two other persons in civvies and pressurised him to renew his ADBP loan. He said his refusal annoyed them. He said he offered them Rs30,000 which were lying at the shop to adjust towards his loan but they insisted to accompany them to meet the bank manager where receipt would be issued.

He said the bank manager, Abdur Rehman Hajano, also asked him to renew the loan but he refused. He alleged that the bank officials also demanded Rs30,000 as bribe.

He further alleged that he was tortured and made to sign on a blank paper and then taken to the Nawabshah jail.

He said jail superintendent Shuja Haider Mirza used abusive language and directed his staff to lock him up in cell No 13. He alleged he was severely tortured in the cell as a result of which he fell unconscious. He said when he regained his consciousness he found himself in the coronary ward of the Nawabshah Civil Hospital where Dr Raj Kumar was providing him medical treatment.

He appealed to the president, Sindh governor, ADBP chairman, district Nazim and the DCO to take notice of the matter and demanded to suspend and arrest the officials concerned of the ADBP.

Earlier, the shopkeeper, his brother and nephew, along with a group of growers, staged a protest demonstration outside the press club here against the attitude of the ADBP officials.