KARACHI, Nov 11: A human vertebra was found in the courtyard of a bungalow in Federal B Area after a team of doctors along with police and a magistrate dug up the spotted place on a tip- off.

Sources said Tahir Suleman had informed the police that he worked with an under-trial prisoner, Shoaib Khan, and on his instruction, his (Shoaib’s) rival Haji Ibrahim alias Bholu was kidnapped, strangled and buried in the courtyard of Bungalow No C-7, Gulberg.

Police dug up the site and found some human bones. The excavation was stopped on Friday and resumed officially on Monday in the presence of a medical board, a magistrate and the police, the sources added.

They said a human vertebra was found during excavation and the digging was in progress late Monday night. Tahir Suleman further told the police that Karim alias KK was also with him while burying the body. The sources said that police could not take Tahir Suleman to the place to lead them in the recovery of the remains for security reasons and they were digging up the site on assumptions.

According to FIR No 8/2001, lodged at the Gizri police station, Haji Ibrahim alias Bholu, a resident of Khayaban-i- Ghazi, went missing in Khayaban-i-Sehr on Jan 8, 2001. His car was recovered from the parking area of Karachi airport the following day.

The police investigation said that a tracking device fitted in the car showed that the vehicle had been parked near the bungalow of Shoaib Khan, strengthening the impression that he was involved in the kidnapping. Later, the FIR was registered in which Shoaib Khan was named by Haji Ibrahim’s brother, Mohammad Yusuf.

Shoaib Khan, a businessman, escaped unhurt in an attack on Feb 21 this year, when five people were shot at and wounded, two of them seriously, in the premises of the district and sessions court, South. Later, one of the injured died.

The sources said Shoaib Khan along with his companions had come to the court to seek an anticipatory bail in the kidnapping case of Haji Ibrahim.

On Aug 25, four policemen were shot dead and seven others, including Shoaib Khan and two civilians, were wounded in an ambush in Malir. Shoaib Khan was being taken back to the Landhi jail in a prisoners’ van after a hearing in the Anti-Terrorism Court-II, Sultanabad, when the van was attacked near Malook Hotel, Malir bridge. He suffered three bullet wounds and was taken to the Aga Khan University Hospital.