The Aurangabad Police have foiled a plan to release dreaded criminal Imran Mehendi from police custody when he was to be produced before a court here for a hearing today, a senior official said toady. Police arrested nine persons and seized a pistol, seven bullets and a jeep, before they could put their plan into action on August 25.

Mehendi and seven others were handed life imprisonment for murdering NCP corporator Salim Qureshi in 2002 by the disrtict and sessions court today. "Mehendi and his accomplices were to be produced in the district and sessions court for the final hearing today. Imran's friends Habib Khaled Mohammed aka Khaled Chaus and Mohammed Shoeb Mohammed Sadiq had planned his escape," said DCP Deepali Ghadge-Dhate. They had called seven criminals from Madhya Pradesh to free Mehendi, she said.