HYDERABAD: Police have cleared the detained sanitary worker of charges of desecrating the Holy Quran in Saddar area on Aug 21, which had sparked violent protests in the city, and said instead of him a young man, a mentally challenged person, had actually committed the crime.

The sanitary worker was released on Thursday on the orders of the court concerned after police submitted to it such report a day before.

Investigating officer of the case, Cantonment SHO Aijaz Lakho said in the report the collected information revealed the sanitary worker was innocent. No documentary or corroborative evidence could be found against him, he said.

He said that actual culprit was the mentally challenged man whose parents and brothers had also confirmed that he had committed the offense. He had been arrested, he said and requested the court to exclude the sanitary worker`s name from the case under Section 497 CrPC.

Hyderabad SSP Amjad Ahmed Sheikh said that after the investigation established that another man was involved in the case, he asked religious leaders and ulema to speak to the suspect to satisfy themselves that police had conducted transparentinvestigation.

Ulema including Sahibzada Abdul Khair Zubair, chief of Jamiat Ulema-i-Pakistan-Noorani, religious leader Haji Gulshan Illahi and others said they were satisfied with the investigation.

They said that ulema supported all rights for minorities enshrined in Islamic teachings about protection of their lives and demanded release of those who were booked after Aug 21 disturbances in the wake of the desecration incident.

The court released the sanitary worker, and remanded the mentally challenged man in police custody for three days.