KARACHI, June 26: A policeman did not hesitate to use the body of even a fellow policeman to earn a few rupees and disappeared with the legal documents required to transport the corpse to his native town a night before the scheduled flight.

According to reports, Mir Nawaz, a police constable, posted at the Yousuf Plaza police station died when he apparently hit the ground headlong in the Hub canal while taking bath on June 24.

As Mir Nawaz, 47, was living alone in Orangi Town, some people from the neighbourhood contributed money to transport the body to his native town Banu in the NWFP. The fare of an attendant, required to accompany the body, was also pooled up.

Muhammad Mairaj, who played a central role in making arrangements for the transportation, told Dawn that as the incident had occurred in Mangopir police jurisdiction some legal documents were required from the police station for transportation of the body.

He said that ASI Ghulam Haider, who was dealing the case, gave a hint that some money would be required to issue the documents and asked Mairaj to collect the documents in the evening.

Mairaj told Dawn that he had refused any kind of gratification to the ASI saying that he was not in a position to grease his palm. When he reached the police station, ASI Ghulam Haider was not there. His cell phone was also off. He alleged that the ASI disappeared even with the death certificate of the victim.

On late Saturday night, Mairaj called the SHO Mangopir Adnan Shah to apprise him of the situation, who asked one of the sub-inspectors Aslam Shah to rush to Edhi morgue with required stamps and get a copy of the death certificate so that legal formalities could be fulfilled.

Finally, the body was flown through an Air Blue flight to victim’s native town in NWFP.

According to Muhammad Mairaj, when he found ASI Ghulam Haider later he gave an excuse that his daughter was ill and he could not come to the police station for issuing the documents.

When contacted, Inspector Adnan Shahid told Dawn that he had sent two reports of misconduct against ASI Ghulam Haider, but the ASI did not mend his ways. “Not a day goes by when there is not a complaint against the ASI,” he said.