Burnt worker’s brother disputes police investigation

The police is incorrect in claiming that my brother had a friend named Dilshad Pathan, said Naeem.


Noman Ahmed September 05, 2011

KARACHI: The authorities are still trying to solve the case about the 36-year-old man who was set on fire on Sunday.

Splashed with kerosene, Nadeem Ahmed Soomro was set on fire allegedly by his friend and an accomplice in an empty plot in Landhi on Sunday evening. Succumbing to the burns, he died an hour past midnight. The authorities claim that he had also been tortured in a house near Quaidabad.

Soomro’s brother Naeem refused to believe the police version and claimed that they had concocted the entire tale. “I was with my brother when the police was trying to question him in the intensive care unit,” said Naeem. “Swooning in and out of consciousness with 96 per cent of his body burnt, he was in no state to tell them what had happened.”

Naeem claimed that he had not mentioned any names when filing the FIR about his brother’s disappearance. He added that he had told the police that his brother did not have any enemies.

Nadeem’s brother who lives in Gulshan-e-Hadid Phase I told The Express Tribune that his brother worked in a garment factory and lived near Charagh Hotel in Landhi 89. He added that Nadeem was married and did not have any children.

Landhi SHO Mazhar Iqbal Awan told The Express Tribune that Naeem had come to the station to inform them about his brother’s disappearance on Sunday. “He told us that Nadeem had received a missed call from Dilshad Pathan on Saturday and had called back to discuss his financial dispute with another friend,” said the SHO. “Naeem also told us that before leaving home around 7 pm, Nadeem had told his wife that he was going to meet a friend in Gulshan-e-Iqbal and would return by 9 pm.” He added that the authorities registered a report based on Naeem’s information. Naeem said that the police was incorrect in claiming that his brother had a friend named Dilshad Pathan.  Witnesses claim that they saw a man who had been set on fire with his hands tied up appear on the road from an empty plot behind the Landhi Gymkhana. They claimed that residents of the area rushed to help him and informed the rescue services who took the man to the Civil hospital. The man was identified as Nadeem Ahmed Soomro and was admitted to the burns wards at around 5 pm.

The SHO claimed that Nadeem had told them that his friend Dilshad Pathan and an unidentified Baloch had kidnapped him, took him to a house in Quaidabad and tortured him. He added that Nadeem had also told them that the two men had bound his hands, took him to Landhi, doused kerosene oil on his body and fled.

Burns Ward in-charge Dr Ved Kumar told The Express Tribune that Nadeem remained in the intensive care unit for about eight hours. He added that the victim suffered burns on 96 per cent of his body and died because of a cardiac pulmonary arrest on early Monday morning at 1:15 am.  Naeem said that his family had left for Shikarpur where Nadeem’s burial would be held.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 6th,  2011.

COMMENTS (2)

Amir Siddiqui | 12 years ago | Reply

@Hamza Atiq: What happens all the time everywhere? People being doused with kerosene oil and set on fire by their alleged friends?

Hamza Atiq | 12 years ago | Reply

so what? it happens all the time everywhere, no news in it

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