Shocking: Suspect jumps into river to evade arrest

LAHORE: A man who had been, according to his family, in police custody for three days, managed to flee by jumping into River Ravi in a Shafiqabad police precinct on Tuesday, police said. The family said that he had fled from the cell he was kept in. The police deny their claim.

The Shafiqabad SHO said they had received a tip-off that some robbers were hiding in a graveyard. He said they had raided the hide-out and had arrested Anees, Adnan and Ramazan. He said their accomplice Ishaq had fled.

The SHO said the three men were taken to a lock up and a case was registered under Section 399 (preparing to commit robbery). He said they had later received information that the fleeing suspect had jumped into the river to evade arrest. He said they had visited the scene and informed Rescue-1122 teams. “We are looking for him but we haven’t found him yet.” The SHO denied the allegation of keeping suspects in illegal detention.

Ishaq’s family alleged that he had been missing for three days. They said the police had asked them for a bribe for his release. They told reporters that Ishaq had been kept in a torture cell and he had fled from there. They said the police had followed him and he had jumped into the river to evade re-arrest.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 25^th, 2016.