KARACHI, Aug 8: A suspect died in a police lockup early Tuesday morning due to alleged police torture. Tuesday’s incident was the second custodial death in the lockup of the Mominabad police station during the past one month.

A head constable of the Mominabad police station, Muhammad Arshad, arrested Muhammad Nisar, 35, in Haryana Colony, Orangi Town, claiming the recovery of 24 small packets of heroin from his possession. The arrest was shown on the Sunday night.

However, the victim’s friends and family insisted that he was subjected to torture leading to his death. The suspect was supposed to be produced by the police before a court for remand on Tuesday.His body was brought to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital by the police for postmortem examination.

Hospital sources said that when the body was brought to the hospital by the police, it was four to five hours old.

Following the incident, City Police Chief Niaz Ahmed Siddiqui suspend the SHO of the Mominabad police station.

He also instructed the DIG Operations and the DIG Investigation Zone II to prepare separate inquiry reports about the incident.

According to a statement issued by the CPO, the suspect was a heroin addict. He was arrested on the night of Aug 6 around 11:30pm for peddling heroin.

On the Monday night, his condition suddenly worsened. Aas he was being taken to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital, the suspect died on the way, the statement said.

The official statement claimed that according to the initial postmortem examination, there were no marks of torture on the body of Muhammad Nisar.