PESHAWAR, Jan 31: A former Patwari, Haji Mohammad, who is accused in a case, escaped from the custody of police at an accountability court on Thursday.

The accused was brought to the court in connection with a case registered against him by the National Accountability Bureau.

An FIR was registered at the east cantonment police station on the complaint of Assistant Sub-Inspector Liaqat Ali.

It is learnt that the accused stopped to meet his relatives and friends and finding that the police were not attentive, went away. When the police realised his absence, he was out of the premises of the court. The accused in NAB cases are normally brought to the court without hand-cuffs.

The accused was arrested on Nov 18 last year by NAB officials with four other Patwaris on charges of inflicting loss to the national exchequer by registering transfer of property deeds during a ban imposed by  the provincial government.

The bureau claimed that the accused had misused their office. It claimed that the provincial government had banned registration of mutation of properties on July 1, 1994, but the accused registered hundreds of mutations on July 3 and 4 the same year.