Khalid Mehmood Soomro murder case: Key suspect arrested from Balochistan produced before court

Sukkur police team raided a village in Jaffarabad.

SUKKUR: The Sukkur police raided a village in Jaffarabad, Balochistan, and arrested a key suspect in the murder case of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam - Fazl (JUI-F) leader Dr Khalid Mehmood Soomro. He was produced before a district and sessions court and an anti-terrorism court.

According to the police, a team of Sukkur police led by SSP Tanveer Hussain Tunio raided a village in Jaffarabad. After an encounter, a suspect identified as Lutuf Jamali was taken into custody. He is the key suspect in the high-profile murder case, who has been absconding since the day of the murder, said the Sukkur SSP.

The police have so far arrested five suspects in the case, identified as Muhammad Hanif Bhutto, police constable Sarang Ali Totani, Mushtaq Mahar, Altaf Jamali and Darya Khan Jamali, said Tunio. He added that Lutuf is the sixth and key suspect of the murder.

According to the police, the accused was produced in the district and sessions court for identification parade after which he was produced in the anti-terrorism court.

After hearing the application, the judge granted seven-day police custody remand of the accused. Later, he was shifted to an undisclosed location for interrogation, said the police.

Dr Khalid Soomro was JUI-F's former general secretary and was gunned down by armed men while he was offering Fajr prayers in Jamia Haqania situated in Gulshan-e-Iqbal, Sukkur, on November 19 last year.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 28^th, 2015.