KARACHI, Aug 25: One of the two suspects, immolated in the lock-up of the Gizri police station on Monday, succumbed to his burns during treatment at the civil hospital here on Wednesday night.
Ameer Zada, 35, who had suffered 100 per cent burns, breathed his last at around 8:25pm. The other suspect, Saleem Khan, was still in precarious condition with 98 per cent burns.
Hospital sources said that a magistrate had been called in to fulfil the procedure under section 176 of the CrPC with regard to the death of Ameer Zada. He would also decide if postmortem was necessary, they added.
Doctors at the hospital were of the view that it could become clear through postmortem whether the suspect had set himself on fire or someone else had immolated him. On Wednesday, police recorded statements of witnesses, most of them the policemen who were present at the Gizri police station at time the incident took place.
A senior police official said that the inquiry was being conducted on the directive of the Sindh police chief Syed Kamal Shah. The probe, he added, would hopefully be completed in a day or two and the report would be submitted to the Sindh IG accordingly.
Police maintain that Saleem Khan and Ameer Zada were arrested on Aug 18 for their alleged involvement in robberies. They were on remand till Aug 22 and were to be produced before a court for further remand on the same day (Monday) they emerged out of the bathroom of the lock-up with their bodies engulfed in flames.
However, close relatives of both suspects rejected the police claim and said that police picked them up on Aug 9 in raids on their homes. They accused police of subjecting the detainees to intense torture before immolating them.
Sher Ali quoted his brother, Saleem Khan, as saying that police officials had been demanding Rs50,000 from him (Saleem Khan) and Ameer Zada. On their refusal, the victims were being forced to confess to their involvement in certain cases of robberies, attack on police, keeping unlicensed weapons, etc.
Sher Ali alleged that the detainees had been immolated when they refused to confess to the crimes and also declined to pay the illegal gratification. "On our refusal, policemen fetched petrol, sprinkled it on our bodies and lit the fire in the lock-up," Sher Ali quoted Saleem Khan, swathed in bandages on a hospital's bed with his hair signed off, as saying.