MULTAN, Oct 29: A man accused of dacoity set himself to fire in a suicide attempt at the lock-up of Haram Gate Police Station here on Tuesday.

Condition of the man, Khurram Shahzad, was stated to be critical at the emergency ward of Nishter Hospital as 85 per cent of his skin had been burnt.

Sources said Mr Shahzad was booked by Delhi Gate police on charges of dacoity and possession of illegal arms. As the Delhi Gate Police Station lacks a lock-up, the accused are locked up in various police stations of the same circle.

When contacted, an official at the Delhi Gate police station claimed that Shahzad was arrested on Tuesday and detained at the Haram Gate police lock-up where, around 12 noon, he asked to be provided a matchbox to light a cigarette. After a while, the lock-up resounded with cries of Shahzad. The police on duty rushed to the lock-up and found him engulfed in flames. He had set ablaze a mattress and wrapped himself in it.

Talking to journalists at the hospital, the severely burnt Khurram said he had tried to commit suicide to protest against police torture. He said he had been in police custody since Sept 17. “SHO Mehr Waseem had threatened to defile my sister if I did not confess to my ‘crimes’,” he said and added, “I preferred death instead of living with this humiliation.”

When contacted, the duty officer at Mumtazabad police station said the SHO had left the police station to attend a meeting with the DPO. However, when contacted by telephone, the DPO was at his official residence and not at any meeting.

DPO Hamid Mukhtar Gondal said Haram Gate policemen ASI Mirza Liaquat Beg, Muharrar Ashraf and Constable Suleman Jaffar had been suspended from service for negligence while the man in charge of Haram Gate police circle had been assigned the duty to probe the incident.

He said Khurrum had earlier been interrogated by Lahore police in connection with a number of dacoity cases.

Meanwhile, Khurram has had another case registered against him under Section 325 of the PPC for attempting to commit suicide.