A rickshaw driver, who was detained in connection with a robbery at a cell phone shop in Karachi’s Defence Housing Authority (DHA), died on Sunday after being released from police custody.

The relatives of 35-year-old rickshaw driver Abdul Rasheed told the media that when he was released from police custody, he was unable to walk properly as he was “subjected to torture”.

Meanwhile, South Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Syed Asad Raza told Dawn.com that armed robbers had recently committed a robbery at a shop in DHA and snatched several cell phones estimated to be worth around Rs10 million.

He said the criminals had used a rickshaw to commit the robbery. He said that with the help of CCTV footage, investigators traced and detained Rasheed, a resident of Qayyumabad “around five days ago”.

“He was proven innocent as the dacoits had hired the rickshaw on rent. As a result, he was released on Friday night,” the SSP said.

He said that Rasheed’s autopsy was conducted at the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre where doctors reserved the cause of death till the chemical and histopathological report came in.

SSP Raza said the police were waiting for the doctors’ final report to ascertain the veracity of claims that the deceased was tortured.

In a statement, the South SSP (Investigation) public relations officer (PRO) said that police had taken notice of the rickshaw driver’s death.

The official statement said that the dacoity had taken place at a mobile phone shop on DHA’s Khayaban-i-Saher on March 12 and Gizri police had registered a case under Sections 392 (robbery) and 397 (robbery or dacoity, with attempt to cause death or grievous hurt) of the Pakistan Penal Code.

It added that with the help of CCTV footage, it transpired that the rickshaw used by the robbers was owned by Rasheed. Therefore, investigators detained him for investigation purposes and later released him.

The statement said that further legal action would be taken after ascertaining the exact cause of death through a post-mortem examination, and “strict legal action” would be taken if any officer was found involved.