LAHORE, July 22: The families of three men, who were killed in an encounter with police on July 20, have belied the police claim.

Shahbaz, alias Shahbazi, his nephew Ghulam Nabi, alias Mitthu and Maqbool, alias Majjo, were killed by the police in Manawan in what they claimed an encounter.

However, Shahbaz’s father Abdullah told reporters at the city mortuary that he and his nephew were arrested by the police some days before they were killed. The police raided the house of Shahbaz near the Lahore General Hospital and took Nabi into custody when he was found absent.

Abdullah alleged the police started torturing Nabi at the spot to force him to disclose the whereabouts of Shahbaz. Nabi kept on insisting that Shahbaz had gone for a walk and would be returning there in a half hour but the police did not believe Nabi and subjected him to severe torture.

In the meantime, Abdullah said, Shahbaz came back home and the police arrested him. Shahbaz insisted them to produce his arrest warrant or any other order to detain him. The police beat him up and took him away in a police van, he claimed.

Abdullah denied the police claim that there were around 129 cases registered against his son. There had been some cases involving family disputes against Shahbaz, Abdullah said. “These all have been settled down,” he said, adding there was no case of kidnap for ransom or carjacking against him as alleged by the police.

Family members of the third man Maqbool alias Majjo also alleged that he was arrested six days ago before being killed.

Meanwhile, autopsy on the three bodies was carried out by a board of doctors and, later, they were handed over to the families. The bodies of Shahbaz and his nephew were taken to Gujranwala while that of the third one was buried in a local graveyard.