SAHIWAL: Police have declared the death of a tractor driver while being trapped under an agricultural machine at Arifwala’s Shah Murad village an accident.

The family of ill-fated Rashid Ali insists it was a murder by his co-worker.

District Police Officer Mariya Mahmood while referring to the Joint Investigation Team’s preliminary report said it was an accident.

The JIT comprising ASP Dr Sameer Noor, DSP Headquarters Naeem Virk and Arifwala Circle DSP Akmal Rasool filed its report within 48 hours, claiming that Rashid Ali who worked for Muhammad Irfan, a private contractor, seemed to have slipped into the machine while getting off the tractor.

Ahmed Yar police SHO Nisar Bhatti said they had registered a case against Iftikhar Ahmed under section 302/34 of PPC on the complaint of deceased’s father Muhammad Aslam. He said it was Iftikhar who informed police about the incident.

The complainant said in the FIR that on the evening of Oct 18 he went to Murad Shah to see his son and saw Iftikhar and his two accomplices pushing him into rotavator machine. Later, he said, one person started the tractor and killed his son under the machine. He said the suspects fled within no time. The family of the deceased told reporters that police were hushing up the case.

The SHO said police had the autopsy conducted and arrested Iftikhar Ahmed.

DSP Naeem Virk said he interrogated Iftikhar and recorded the statements of the suspects and the team did not find any evidence of murder. The SHO told Dawn that they had yet to close the case and would further investigate.

Published in Dawn, October 24th, 2018

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