ISLAMABAD, March 15: The Supreme Court on Wednesday directed the Inspector General of Police, Punjab, Ziaul Hassan to assign investigation into the death of a prisoner to DIG Zafar Iqbal Qureshi and two SSPs. The prisoner, Sardar Ali, had died at Multan Central Jail.

The IGP was directed to submit a report to the court within 15 days. An SC bench, comprising Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry and Justice Mian Shakirullah Jan, heard the case and granted more time for investigation.

The bench asked the Punjab health secretary to personally look into the matter and constitute a board of doctors for chemical examination of the body of the prisoner to determine the cause of his death.

On September 15, 2005 a Supreme Court bench had ordered the release of Sardar Ali, who had completed his life sentence. The jail superintendent did not comply with the court orders on the pretext of seeking a clarification from the chief justice. While the process was still inconclusive, the prisoner died in jail.

In the first preliminary enquiry, the home secretary had held that Sardar Ali’s death was unnatural, as blood was oozing out of his mouth, rectum and arm. The death register at the jail also confirmed the view.

Sardar Ali was sentenced to life imprisonment in the murder of a son of Mian Saeed Ahmed Qureshi, a former minister from Multan. He had completed his term but was not freed despite the orders of the Supreme Court.

His widow had filed a petition with the court in which she alleged that her husband was killed in jail.