MUZAFFARABAD, Jan 21: A man was beaten by the police for his alleged involvement in a petty theft which he claimed he never committed. Mohammad Akbar, 45-year old mechanic, resident of Rehara village in district Bagh, narrated his ordeal to the newsmen at the press club here on Friday.

He said on January 17, two policemen in plainclothes, later identified as Liaquat and Nadir, arrived at his workplace along with an official of the electricity supply company and started beating him.

“They dumped me in a private vehicle and locked me in a room in front of police station Bagh for nearly 24 hours during which they kept on beating me savagely,” alleged the man, who bore bruises on his forehead, hands and legs.

He said he was set free in the evening of January 18 and the two cops who dropped him in his village in a police vehicle threatened him to keep his mouth shut about the incident otherwise he would face the consequences.

When contacted by Dawn , SP Bagh Kamran Ali said Akbar was implicated in steel theft in an FIR lodged by a line superintendent of electricity supply company.

However, when he was told that the accused was kept in a private lockup and beaten, he said such an act could not be ignored and he would take action against the said policemen.

Shaikh Talat, resident of Forward Kahuta who was incidentally traveling in a public transport vehicle on the same day, told reporters that he was witness to the torture of Mr Akbar by two policemen in plainclothes on the main road.

“I don't know the reason but we all saw that first the man accompanying the policemen beat him and later the cops did the same and later he was taken away in a private vehicle,” he said. Mr Akbar alleged that the official of the electricity company had been harbouring malice against him since long because he had once scolded him for his ulterior motives about a woman in his family. —Staff Correspondent