Father of zoo victim says son was not an addict
Tigers like those at Bahawalpur Zoo are deadly carnivores. Photo: Express
Father of Muhammad Bilawal, who had been mauled to death by several tigers at the Sherbagh Zoo on Wednesday, said on Friday that his son had neither been a drug addict nor did he have any police record.
Dr. Muhammad Javed, father of Muhammad Bilawal, said this while talking to The Express Tribune by telephone.
Dr. Javed alleged that the statements attributed to him by the Bahawalpur district administration were based on misrepresentation.
He said that a false case had been registered against his son because he had had a fight with one of the wardens at the zoo.
Dr. Javed said he had not spoken with any administration officer since the death of his son nor did he give any statement vis-à-vis not going for any legal action.
He accused the administration of not allowing him to meet the media persons.
Read Zoo intruder mauled to death by tigers
On the other hand, the deputy commissioner of Bahawalpur said on Friday that relatives of Bilawal had reached Bahawalpur and identified Bilawal's body.
The official claimed that the father of Bilawal had refused to take any action [against the Bahawalpur administration].
The deputy commissioner, however, said that police would continue their investigation into the incident, “which happened due to negligence”.
He said that all of the SIMs that were issued in the name of the victim would be geofenced.
Meanwhile, the in charge of the forensic department at the Quaid-e-Azam Medical College, Dr. Talha, who conducted the postmortem examination, said that samples had been taken for ascertaining whether they contained evidence of any substance.
Read more Bahawalpur zoo shut
The DSP of City, Yunus Butar, told The Express Tribune that Bilawal's body had been handed over to his family members. He claimed that the family members did not want to take any legal action.
He alleged that Bilawal's father, Dr. Javed, had said that his son used to stay out for several days without informing them.
The DSP of City said that the zoo management was to blame for the incident as the management should have checked before closing the gate of the zoo that no one had stayed behind.
He said that it seemed that Bilawal must have fallen into the tigers' cage from the roof of the cage.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 9th, 2023.