January 25, 2008	Friday	Muharram 15, 1429

KHANEWAL, Jan 24: A 30-year-old man was allegedly tortured to death by police during custody at Nawan Shehar police station in Kabirwala tehsil, some 35 kilometres away from here, on Wednesday night.

The police arrested Allah Bakhsh on Wednesday allegedly for selling liquor illegally. He was kept at the police station’s lock-up at night. However, he was found dead on Thursday morning.

Though the police claimed that Allah Bakhsh died from cardiac arrest, his family members believed that he died merely because of police torture. They alleged that the police were bargaining with them for his release and on failure to mint some money they finally killed him.

DPO Shahid Hanif told Dawn that the police had caught Allah Bakhsh in liquor selling case, but he expired naturally due to a heart attack.

“No, he did not die due to police torture,” the DPO stressed and added that his autopsy would ascertain the cause of death.

DHQ Hospital sources, however, told Dawn that the ascertainment of the cause of death by a medical board during autopsy was very difficult.

Only two scratch marks were found on the body of Allah Bakhsh, which alone could help the board assess the cause of death.

The doctors have sent samples collected from his body to a laboratory in Lahore for chemical examination.

The body was handed over to his family on Thursday evening. Later, he was buried in his native village Khokhran Mohabat Taraggar.