RAWALPINDI: A protest demonstration against the death of a 23-year-old man allegedly in police custody led to the registration of a murder case against three officials of the Ganjmandi police on Monday.

However, so far none of the police officials booked in the murder case have been arrested.

Mohammad Rehan, a resident of Workshopi Mohallah, was arrested by a patrolling team led by ASI Mohammad Attique and consisting of constables Mohammad Jameel and Mohammad Awais on Sunday.

The ASI stated in the FIR that while patrolling in a street they spotted a man acting suspiciously. He said on seeing the police, the man started running away but was intercepted after a brief chase. During a search, the police recovered five bottles of locally-brewed liquor from his possession.

Case registered after protesters accuse officials of torturing man to death

Later, the accused was placed in a lock-up after registration of a case against him on Sunday night.

Raja Tahir, the station house officer (SHO) of Ganjmandi, said that at midnight Rehan complained to the other inmates of the lock-up about a pain on the left side of his chest.

He said after the issue was brought into the notice of duty officer and Muharrar of the police station, Rehan was shifted to the District Headquarters (DHQ) Hospital where he was pronounced dead.

Mohammad Kamran, brother of the deceased, claimed in the FIR that his brother was arrested by the three policemen from his house without any search warrants and later allegedly tortured to death in police custody.

He also claimed that his brother was a law-abiding citizen and not involved in any case.

However, SHO Tahir said that Rehan had a criminal record and once been in jail for two years in a similar case of possessing liquor.

The family members and friends of the young man on Monday gathered outside the Ganjmandi police station and staged a protest against the police.

The protesters chanted slogans against the police accusing them of killing the young man. They also demanded the registration of a murder case against those who they claimed had tortured Rehan to death.

After senior police officials informed the protesters that legal action would be taken against the three policemen, the protesters dispersed peacefully.

A medical board was also constituted to conduct a postmortem on the body at the DHQ hospital. According to the initial postmortem report, the body bore no torture marks.

However, samples were sent to a laboratory in Lahore for chemical examination to ascertain the actual cause of the death.

Published in Dawn, February 6th, 2018