KARACHI, April 1: An activist of the Mohajir Qaumi Movement (MQM) died while in the custody of the Landhi police on Tuesday morning and the body was sent to Civil Hospital late in the night.

Police officials from top to bottom were tight-lipped and declined to divulged information about the custodial death.

The DIG Operations Tariq Jamil said: “It came to my knowledge that a man has died in police custody. We are investigating the matter and if it is custodial death, a judicial inquiry will be recommended.”

The town police officer of Landhi, Abdur Rasheed Khan, the in charge of the operational command, was unaware of the custodial death on Tuesday evening. When Dawn contacted him on his mobile phone, he said: “My SHO has still not told me about the details of the incident.” Later, he could not be contacted by phone, though his phone rang.

The sources said the body was first taken to Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre, where the dead man was identified as Saleemuddin. The police, later, took the body to Civil Hospital from the JPMC for unknown reasons.

The SHO of Landhi police station, Anwar Husain Jafri, declined to divulge the details of the incident when journalists queried him at Civil Hospital, making the incident mysterious.

The Member of the National Assembly from Landhi, Mehmood Qureshi, said Saleemuddin was arrested near his home in Landhi 36-G, Sharif Colony, on Tuesday morning, and he claimed that Saleemuddin was tortured to death.

“Later, the police dumped the body in the bushes near a mill in a bid to save their skin,” the police said.

He asked the government to order a judicial inquiry into the incident and award exemplary punishment to those found involved in the killing.

ARRESTED: The police claimed on Tuesday to have arrested two former workers of the Mohajir Qaumi Movement and recovered arms and ammunition from their possession in Landhi.