September 18, 2008	Thursday	Ramazan 17, 1429

KARACHI, Sept 17: The trussed-up body of a leader of the Baloch Republican Party (Bramdakh group) was found in Lea Market in the early hours of Wednesday.

Police said the body, stuffed in a gunny bag and dumped near the Lea Market bus terminal, was spotted by some pedestrians. Subsequently, the police were informed, who shifted the body to the Civil Hospital for a postmortem examination.

At the hospital the victim was identified as Saleem Afshani, a local leader of the BRP. Hospital sources said the body bore torture marks all over. But the torture did not cause the death and its cause could not be immediately established. Hospital sources said the victim did not have any gunshot wound.

Hospital sources said the cause of death had been reserved and the viscera had been sent for a chemical examination. Following the postmortem, the body was handed over to the friends and family of the dead, hospital sources said.

Party sources said Saleem Afshani was the president of the BRP (South) and had gone out of his home in Lyari on Tuesday morning.

Sources in the party said that for the last couple of months Saleem Afshani was keeping a low profile and it appeared that he was living under certain fear.

Accident

A young man died and another was injured in a road accident in Korangi on Wednesday.

Police said a speeding vehicle knocked down motorcyclist Asif, 26, and Asad, 22, in a Korangi area. They were taken to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre, where Asif succumbed to his wounds while Asad was provided treatment. Police said the dead was a resident of Korangi and worked at a medical store.