Citizen accuses cops of extortion, threatening to kill him in ‘encounter’

SHO claims citizen is drug peddler, cannot explain why 'drug dealer' was released

KARACHI: Bahadur Gul, a resident of Jannat Gull Town, Sohrab Goth filed a complaint on Wednesday with the East DIG that cops on two motorcycles stopped his car on Friday (November 29) night, while he was going to the New Sabzi Mandi with a relative, named Samad.

He alleged that the cops accused the citizens of being drug peddlers and extorted money from them while threatening to take their lives in a 'police encounter'. Sohrab Goth SHO, on the other hand, maintained that the citizens were drug dealers and were trying to falsely implicate the police officials.

Said the citizen

Gul said that the cops blindfolded them, made them sit in the back seat and drove the car to a remote area. According to his statement, the police officials stopped the car after a while and accused Gul and Samad of being drug dealers with weapons in the car. "Give us Rs500,000 or we will kill you in a police encounter," threatened the police officials, said Gul, while adding that he and his relative told the cops that they ran a garments business with stalls in weekly bazaars.

Gul said he told the cops that they had no connection with drug peddlers but the police officials took him and his relative to Sohrab Goth Police Station and locked them up in a room on the upper floor of the building.

"Later, a beater of the police named Hassan went to my house and collected Rs250,000 from my father," said Gul. Besides, he added, the police officials threatened his sister's husband by telling him that Gul had named him as an accomplice in an illegal business. According to Gul, Hassan collected Rs150,000 from his sister's husband as well. After returning to the police station, Hassan let them out through the backdoor of the police station while taking another Rs20,000 from Samad and threatening to kill them if they told anyone, said Hassan.

The complainant has identified the accused police officials by name in his complaint and further information is being collected with regards to the incident.

Says the SHO

Sohrab Goth SHO Abdul Rasool said that the citizens were falsely accusing the police and claimed that Gul was a drug peddler. However, he had no concrete answer as to why Gul and Samad were released if they were in fact drug peddlers. The SHO shrugged off the question by saying, "the police are investigating the case".

Published in The Express Tribune, December 5^th, 2019.