Male stabbing victim hurt himself to skip work: police

A man who claimed to have been injured in an attack by a knife-wielding suspect inflicted self-injury, said police, Geo News reported.

Noman had injured himself with a sharp object late on Saturday night after his employer -- a mineral water company — refused his leave application, SSP East Dr Samiullah Soomro said. 

“All of Noman’s [earlier] statements were false,” Dr Soomro said. “He injured himself with a sharp object after his weekend plans were disrupted because his employer rejected his leaves request.” 

The man, whose appearance was similar to the description of the knife-wielding criminal who has attacked several women in the metropolis, was picked up for interrogation on Sunday after he was admitted to a private hospital for treatment of wounds which doctors said appeared to have been self-inflicted.

He was handed over to police after he took a lie-detector test and was thoroughly interrogated, the Crime Investigation Agency said.  Noman was released on Monday night, Geo News reported, quoting Dr Soomro, adding that four more suspects were arrested earlier in the day.

The knifeman, who has posed quite a challenge to the authorities, remains at large, evading arrest and baffling authorities. The police have numerous theories, including copycat attacks and an organised group operating within the city.

This past Friday, the Sindh chief minister claimed to have received information that two suspects – one from Sahiwal and the other from Karachi – have been identified as the possible perpetrators.

Speaking at a ceremony at the German Consulate General, Murad Ali Shah said police were pursuing all leads to arrest the two identified suspects but they were still at large. “The suspect from Sahiwal had been involved in at least 30 such knife attacks in Punjab,” said the CM. Also on Friday, DIG East Sultan Ali Khawaja was appointed as the focal person for the knife attacks probe.