RAHIM YAR KHAN: The latest footage released by the Shaikh Zayed Medical College Hospital (SZMCH) confirms that ATM thief Salahuddin Ayubi was brought to the health facility dead.

The CCTV footage that has gone viral on social media shows that Ayubi was brought to the hospital on a stretcher on Saturday night at 9:48pm. Policemen brought Ayubi handcuffed to the medical ward where doctors declared him dead.

Thereafter, the footage shows, the policemen took his body to the postmortem building. Later, after 3am, the body of Ayubi was again brought to the emergency block for X-ray and the process was completed.

SZMCH focal person Rana Ilyas Ahmed confirmed that the hospital administration had released the footage.

A resident of Gujranwala, the suspect was arrested in Rahim Yar Khan when he was caught stealing from an ATM machine and he was reported dead the very next day. Police registered a murder case against City A-Division SHO Mehmoodul Hassan and investigation officers – Sub-Inspector Shafaat Ali and Assistant Sub-Inspector Matloob Hussain – on the complaint of Ayubi’s father Afzaal.

Afzaal on Wednesday alleged that his son was subjected to brutal torture by police. His counsel Usama Khawar Ghuman shared with Dawn the video clip of Ayubi’s father in which he said he was not satisfied with the postmortem report. He urged Chief Minister Usman Buzdar and the Lahore High Court chief justice to investigate the case and give exemplary punishment to the policemen involved in the murder.

He further demanded that an inquiry should be conducted in Lahore because he had no trust in Rahim Yar Khan police.

In a related development, the Rahim Yar Khan district police officer has written a memorandum to a sessions judge and requested that a judicial inquiry be conducted by a magistrate.

Police spokesperson Zeeshan Randhawa, in a statement, urged the public not to doubt the sincerity of police in pursuing the case and wait for the report of the judicial inquiry. He said the officials who were nominated in the FIR, had been suspended from service.

Published in Dawn, September 5th, 2019