DERA GHAZI KHAN, March 18 A mob on Thursday torched the body of an outlawed outfit member who was allegedly shot dead by the police for killing a youth.

Reports said Abdullah Chandia, a member of the outlawed Sipah-i-Sahaba who was registered under the fourth schedule of the Punjab police, stabbed cloth trader Ghulam Rasool at his shop in Choti Zaireen and shot dead his son Naseem Abbas, the Shia community president of the area.

He also opened fire on the police which, however, arrested Chandia. Meanwhile, a mob reached the Choti police station where it ransacked furniture and damaged vehicles, and succeeded in taking the unconscious Chandia along with them.

Saying that the Choti police had killed Chandia in their custody, the mob dragged the body on roads to express resentment against the murderer and torched his body.

Zafar Abbas Naqvi, an elder of the Shia community, told Dawn that the police were responsible for the murder of Naseem Abbas as SHO Hafiz Noor Muhammad Chandia did not come to his rescue. He further alleged that (newly-promoted) DSP Iqbal Chandia killed Abdullah Chandia in custody and invited wrath of the mob which snatched away the body.

He demanded that the entire Choti police station staff should be suspended from service and a high-level inquiry ordered.

District Police Officer Kashif Kanju told Dawn that Abdullah Chandia had a petty dispute with Ghulam Rasool and his sons. He claimed that the mob took Chandia away when he was alive and killed him by using clubs and bricks.

A case would be registered against those who had ransacked the police station and set the body on fire after killing Chandia.

He said a murder case would be instituted against Abdullah Chandia.

There was a wave of resentment among the family and supporters of Chandia. His son, Abdul Haq, defended his father's action by claiming that he had done nothing wrong by killing a blasphemer. He said the police were going hard on them.