MULTAN, Dec 1: The Okara district police allegedly picked up three relatives of the military farm tenant who died in a joint action of police and the Rangers on Aug 24, in a bid to force them to avoid pursuing the case against the law-enforcers.

Suleman Masih was reportedly shot dead during a clash between the revolting tenants of Okara military farms and the law-enforcers. His bullet-riddled body was handed over to his family by the police the next day after registration of a murder case against a number of tenants who had also been injured in the clash and hospitalised.

The family of the deceased moved the high court against the highhandedness of the law-enforcers. The matter about the circumstances surrounding the death of Suleman is currently subjudice. However, his family has more than once complained that police are pressurising them into withdrawing the case.

Relatives of the deceased, Saqib, Haroon and Lal, were standing near the Okara railway station at about 10.30am on Sunday, when police whisked them away to the cantonment police station, where they were pressurised into striking a deal for withdrawal of the case.

The three of them were released by the police in the evening when the tenants reportedly threatened to block the GT Road. After their release, the ‘kidnapped’ relatives of Suleman Masih alleged that the police had offered them Rs300,000 for a ‘patch-up’ on the matter of Mr Suleman’s death.

They further alleged that when they refused to strike a deal on the issue, the police got their thumb marks on plain papers and released them.

The Okara police chief could not be contacted till the filing of this report.