Extra-judicial: Kahna police accused of custodial killing

FIR registered against SHO after protesters block road.

LAHORE: An FIR was registered at Kahna police station against the station house officer and two sub inspectors on Saturday after a large crowd of protestors blocked traffic for several hours at Old College stop on Ferozepur Road in protest against the killing of a man allegedly in police custody.

SHO Arshad Khang, the primary accused, denied the allegation.

He claimed that Saleem was a fugitive and that a police team raided his house on Thursday but he had fled before they could catch him. ASIs Riaz and Irshad were the other accused in the case.

The protestors dispersed after SP Ayaz Saleem arrived at the scene and assured them of action against the officials, if they were found guilty.

The protesters attacked several vehicles that were attempting to cross the blockade, breaking their windows with batons. Some of them made announcements through mosque loudspeakers calling the residents of the area to join them in the protest against ‘police brutality’.

Muhammad Akram, the brother of the deceased, told The Express Tribune that SHO Khang arrested his brother from their house at around 8pm on Thursday. He alleged that the police killed Saleem and later dumped his body in a nearby potato field. He said torture marks were visible on Saleem’s body. He said the cases against Saleem were fake and were registered after the killing.

Khang denied that the cases were false. He said two dacoity FIRs had been registered against Saleem a year ago. “It’s not possible for the police to lodge a pre-dated FIR, that too without receiving a complaint,” he said.

Ahmed said the deceased had got information about the police raid and had fled from his house.  He speculated that the man could have died by electric shock on touching an uninsulated electric wire near the potato field.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 16^th,  2011.