FAISALABAD/LAHORE: A murder case was registered against about one dozen police officials on Wednesday after a man, identified as Maqsood Ahmed, died allegedly from thrashing by the Khurrianwala police on Tuesday.

Taking notice of the incident, Inspector General of Police Arif Nawaz Khan made the Jarranwala superintendent of police officer on special duty and suspended the deputy superintendent of police, station house officer and the entire raiding police team of the CIA Gujranwala. The action was taken against SP Jaranwala Hassan Afzal, Khurianwala DSP Khalid Mahmood and SHO Umar Daraz.

All the 10 members of the CIA team including three assistant sub inspectors and constables have also been suspended from service, says a spokesperson for the Punjab Police.

Violent protests ensued as the people besieged the Makkoana police post, roughed up the policemen, a reporter and some passersby while protesting against the police.

Jaranwala SP, others suspended

Submitting an application to the Khurrianwala police, Shaukat Ali, of 229-RB, Makkoana, said he along with his brothers Maqsood and Nasir and some other villagers were sitting in their house when two vehicles - one of Elite Force and another private-- reached there and the policemen in civvies asked them to go with them.

When asked about the reasons to break into their house, the police officials thrashed his brother and dragged them out of the house. A policeman pushed Maqsood to bundle him into the police van who fell on the ground and passed away. He said police officials, however, took Nasir with them.

The policemen were booked under 302, 365, 148 and 149 sections of the Pakistan Penal Code with no arrest.

On Monday, the people also staged a protest demonstration against the City Jaranwala police and claimed that they tortured Ansar Ali to death. Two policemen were suspended and taken into custody on the direction of the SSP (operations) Ali Raza who also visited the spot and ordered a probe into the issue.

The IGP tasked additional IG (internal accountability branch) Azhar Hameed Khokhar with initiating an inquiry into the incident to fix responsibility against the police officers/officials involved in the incident.

Published in Dawn, July 4th, 2019