Exceeding authority: Murder inquiry ordered against policeman

LAHORE:

Operations DIG Rana Abdul Jabbar on Sunday said an inquiry would be held into allegations that a policeman had shot dead a factory worker.

Civil Lines SP Sarfraz Virk would head the inquiry.

Around two dozen family members of the deceased Muhammad Yaseen blocked Multan Road on Sunday to protest his death.

Yaseen’s wife, Nasim Bibi, said Zahid Mehmood, a constable at Gujjarpura police station, shot her husband late on Saturday night at point-blank range, killing him on the spot. She said several factory workers had gathered at scene on hearing the gunshots and caught the policeman. Shadbagh police said they had found factory workers beating the constable and rescued him.

He was taken to Shadbagh police station and an FIR was registered against him on Nasim Bibi’s complaint.

Police said Mehmood claimed that he had stopped Yaseen at a picket and when he did not stop, chased him.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 6^th, 2014.