Incidental death report: DPO Nankana Sahib commits suicide

LAHORE:

A police officer posted in Nankana Sahib committed suicide at his official residence on Monday.

District Police Officer (DPO) Shehzad Waheed is said to have shot himself in the head using his official pistol.

Police officials were dispatched by the Regional Police Officer (RPO) of Sheikhupura region in Lahore, Rai Altaf, when he failed to contact the deceased on his personal phone numbers.

Officials of the Nankana Sahib police, led by DSP Malik Muhammad Saddique Awan, reached his residence.

Policemen said that when they broke into his bedroom, they found Waheed lying in a pool of blood on his bed, adding that they had immediately informed their superiors.

According to police, the incident had occurred between 10:30 am and 11 am. The motive behind the suicide could not be ascertained, said the DSP Nankana Sahib.

Sources said that Waheed, a resident of Kamoki, was deployed to Nankana Sahib as DPO about eight months ago.

Deceased DPO Shehzad Waheed was a close relative of Punjab’s former prosecution secretary Rana Maqbool.

Waheed’s wife, along with their six-month-old daughter, was in Lahore in connection with the final-year medical examinations.

His relatives rushed to Nankana Sahib after they were told about his death.

Sources in police department were divided in their opinion about the circumstances which led to his suicide: some believe that his death had got something to do with personal differences with his wife.

Staffers deployed at the DPO’s residence insisted that Waheed’s wife had left the house without informing the deceased.

They said that Waheed had asked about her and they had informed him that she had left at about 6am. The staffers said that the DPO had gone inside his bedroom and closed the door, adding that they were not aware of any further development.

According to sources, a lengthy call was traced to one of his personal phone numbers, which lasted until the guards posted at the residence heard a gunshot.

Some of the police officials attributed the suicide to his humiliation at the hands of the additional district and sessions judge, Nankana Sahib, Naveed Iqbal, which occurred three days ago.

A police official noted in the daily diary kept in the Shahkot police station that the additional sessions judge was unduly pressing police to arrest an accused nominated in FIR No.143/2011 dated March 26, registered in the same precincts, adding that the accused’s innocence had been established during investigations.

Sub-Inspector Ahmad Yar, the officer investigating the murder case, said in entry number 19 that he returned from the district court, Nankana Sahib, at about 6pm where the additional district and sessions judge, Naveed Iqbal, tried to persuade DPO Shahzad Waheed to arrest the accused, insisting that he was guilty. He noted that all this time the district and sessions judge did not say anything in his support. Sources said that after the meeting, the DPO had shared his views with his colleagues, including the case officer, Ahmad Yar.

The investigating officer had noted the incident in the precinct’s daily diary as part of the official record, which can be presented if necessary in case any court order is passed in this connection.

DSP of Nankana Sahib Police Circle Malik Muhammad Sadique Awan told The Express Tribune that they were trying to determine why this incident took place, adding that investigations were continuing.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 29^th, 2011.