SANGHAR, Aug 4: A landlord, Meer Hasan Keerio, and his two kamdars , Devo Kolhi and Pehelwan Keerio, were arrested by the Jhol police on Sunday for helping bandit Mumtaz Mari to escape.

According to information gathered by this scribe about the three-day encounter which ended with the escape of Mari, the bandit, after killing three policemen, disappeared in a sugarcane field on Saturday after breaking the police cordon. The police also went after him.

He kept on running in the sugarcane crop. Finally he was again encircled in another sugarcane field between the night of Saturday and Sunday.

In the morning, it was disclosed that he had sneaked out of this field also.

The police again tracked him following his footprints and it was revealed that the bandit had come to the shrine of Malook Shah.

The police sources claimed that from there he went to the village of landlord Keerio and met his kamdar (manager), Devo Kolhi.

Another manager, Pahelwan Keerio, took the bandit on a motorcycle and dropped him at some safe place.

This was indicated from footprints and marks of motorcycle tyres.

It has also been learnt reliably that during the 74-hour encounter which began early on Thursday, the landlord, on Friday night, sent his men to attack the police from behind to release the pressure on the gang of the bandits and help Mari escape.

Both the groups, the outsiders and the besieged, opened fire in a sequence, which was a signal to the encircled bandit to attack a particular side and reach a specific point so that he could be picked up and the plan was executed.

During the encounter, four policemen and two bandits were killed but the gang leader, Mari escaped.

His gang is involved in numerous cases of murder, dacoities and kidnapping for ransom.

Due to the fear created by the activities of the gang, many residents have vacated their villages.

According to reports, Mari used to invite bandits from other districts and recruited local petty criminals in his gang.

The area of his operation is in the jurisdiction of the police stations of Naoabad, Jhol, Berani, Jam Nawaz Ali, Tando Adam, Sinjhoro and especially the Mangrari and Lakha dehs near Jhol.

Mari was a tractor driver before entering the world of crime.