Govt employee dies in police custody

Family says deceased was framed in robbery case, tortured to extort bribe

DERA GHAZI KHAN: The heirs of a government employee on Tuesday held a protest demonstration in front of the Chief Minister House, demanding investigation into his death in police custody.

The victim, Muhammad Zariab Khakhal, was allegedly tortured to death by the Criminal Investigation Agency (CIA) police during interrogation about his involvement in motorcycle robbery.

The district police officer (DPO) ordered an immediate inquiry regarding the case.

“If the policemen are found guilty of violence, they will be severely punished according to the law,” DPO Akhtar Farooq told The Express Tribune.

Abbas, a family member, said that Mohammad Zariab was detained by CIA police five days ago, accusing him of being involved in a motorcycle robbery.

K-P police arrests individual accused of shooting explicit video of two girls

He said that the family contacted CIA Police In-charge Rauf Nawaz regarding the matter, who said that if the man was found innocent, he would be released. He alleged that an official later demanded Rs300,000 bribe and threatened to kill the suspect in a staged encounter.

The family claims Zariab was innocent and was framed in a fake case by CIA officials to extort money.

The protesters demanded that the police higher-ups order immediate registration of a murder case against the CIA police in-charge. They said they would not bury the deceased until a case was registered.

Reportedly, Superintendent of police (SP) Investigation Hafeezur Rehman Bugti has been assigned the task to conduct an inquiry into the matter.

“If the post-mortem report proves torture, strict action will be taken against the police officials who were involved in the man’s murder,” the SP investigation told the media.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 24^th, 2020.