Suspect ‘tortured to death’; Narowal police term it suicide

NAROWAL: A suspect was allegedly killed by torture in custody of the Shah Gharib Police Station while police claimed that he had committed suicide and registered a case against two officials for negligence.

Muhammad Farooq, son of Mushtaq Ahmed, a resident of village Kadiala, was in custody of the police on charge of motorcycle theft. On Sunday morning, Farooq was found dead in the lock-up. His family alleged that he was in the custody of police for the last many days and that police tortured him to death during interrogation. They rejected the police claims of suicide.

Ghulam Mustafa, the spokesperson for the district police, said the suspect was arrested by police in theft cases. He claimed that during interrogation, Farooq had confessed to stealing 11 motorcycles and police recovered four motorcycles from him while seven motorcycles were yet to be recovered from him. The spokesman added that after the Fajr prayers, a constable checked the lock-up and found Farooq had committed suicide by tying a noose around his neck.

Two officials booked over negligence

District Police Officer Muhammad Naveed Malik took notice of the death of the suspect in the police lock-up and sought forensic analysis. He wrote a letter for a judicial inquiry into the incident.

Farooq’s family appealed to Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz and Inspector General of Police Dr Usman Anwar to take immediate notice of the situation. In the late night development, a FIR was registered over the death of a motorcycle thief in the lock-up.

The report was registered on the complaint of DSP/SDPO Shakargarh Shehbaz Cheema. He said CCTV footage from the police station showed Farooq putting a noose around his neck and hanging himself by the door of the washroom.

He added that the suspect committed suicide due to the negligence of moharar Muhammad Imran and constable Qadeer Ahmed and a case was registered against them with Shah Gharib Police Station.

Published in Dawn, September 2nd, 2024