A case less, a body more: One of three kidnapped found dead ‘due to police negligence’

Dead man’s family accuse police of telling them to wait for new year.

BAHAWALPUR: The body of one of the three men kidnapped on December 26 was found near Bahadurabad village in Khanqah Sharif on Thursday night.



The dead man’s family blamed police for the death after police allegedly ‘refused to register the FIR before the turn of the year.’ According to the FIR lodged with Samma Satta police, three men, including Farhan, Zeeshan and Shahbaz were kidnapped on December 26 from the fields they had been working on. Farhan’s body was found near Bahadurabad village on Thursday night. Abid, Farhan’s brother, said Samma Satta police refused to lodge the FIR the same day. “They told us that the year 2012 was about to end and they would lodge the FIR once the new year began,” he said. He said the police’s refusal to register the case on time was a factor in his brother’s death. He said SHO Syed Irshad Bukhari was informed of the situation but did not take any action.



“The kidnappers asked for Rs2.5 million ransom for each of the three men. We waited for the police to act but they did nothing,” he said. Samma Satta SHO Bukhari said the police had cooperated with the families. “We made a number of raids,” he said. He said the FIR was lodged on January 1. He denied any delay in registering of the FIR. “We wrote it immediately after receiving the application and started the investigations,” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 12^th, 2013.