ISLAMABAD: Three officials, including the station house officer (SHO), from the Karachi Company police station were suspended on Wednesday for illegally detaining and torturing two teenagers, officials said.

The victims were illegally detained for around 18 hours, and tortured so they would confess to being robbers.

The officials – SHO Inspector Rana Mubarak, Assistant Sub-Inspector Rana Rasheed and Night Moharrar Head Constable Tariq – were suspended on the directives of Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, officials said. An inquiry was also ordered by the minister against the officials.

Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Sajid Kiani also ordered an inquiry into the matter on Monday, and asked Superintendent of Police Saddar Zeeshan Haider to investigate the incident and fix responsibility.

On Tuesday, the SHO and the other officials were called to the Centre Police Office Islamabad to be questioned on the incident after it was reported in the media, they said. The two senior police officials were questioned and the matter was closed with a verbal warning.

Zohaib Khan and Asfandyar Abbasi were picked up by Karachi Company police from G-9, and held for 18 hours at the station where they were beaten and tortured, officials said. They were not allowed to contact their families, and were made to confess that they were out to commit robberies.

Zohaib Khan’s father, Waqar Imran said Zohaib’s mother called his mobile phone and it was answered by an unknown individual, who asked her questions about his father’s business without identifying himself. Mr Imran added that when he spoke to the individual and asked him to introduce himself, the call was disconnected and the phone was switched off.

He said they searched for their son at various police stations in the twin cities all night, but could not find him.

On Monday, an application for his missing son was lodged with the Banni police station, but Mr Imran said he managed to locate his son using his mobile and discovered he was in G-9 Markaz.

The family found Zohaib Khan being held in the Karachi Company police lockup. The police claimed a gun shaped lighter was recovered from Asfandyar Abbasi’s possession.

Mr Imran said the teenagers were released around 5:30pm on Monday after the SSP intervened.

Separately, Senate Chairman Raza Rabbani took notice of the incident and referred it to the house human rights committee with a directive to investigate and report on the matter during the next Senate session. The matter was raised by Senator Farhatullah Babar.

Published in Dawn February 16th, 2017