Police officials investigating the case in which a teenage boy was accused of being a thief and then beaten to death in the Bahadurabad neighbourhood have arrested three more suspects believed to be involved in the incident.
With the latest arrests, the police have now taken five people into custody in connection with the lynching, while the investigators are looking for the remaining suspects with the help of the footage of the brutal murder.
Seventeen-year-old Rehan was beaten to death this past Saturday by a bungalow owner, namely Daniyal, his friend Zubair and other people in Bahadurabad’s Kokan Society after allegedly being caught stealing valuables from Daniyal’s house.
Daniyal claimed that the boy’s accomplice had managed to escape from the scene. The Ferozabad police arrested the bungalow owner and his friend the same day. Monday’s arrests were made by the investigation wing of the District East police. The suspects have been identified as Anas Nazeer, Shahrukh and Masood. They were taken into custody during a raid in Kokan Society.
Ferozabad SHO Aurangzeb Khattak said the police arrested the suspects with the help of a video clip that went viral on social media, adding that the three could be seen beating up the boy in the footage.
Khattak said that police experts’ consultation is under way about adding Section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act in the FIR, following an application submitted by the victim’s family in which the boy’s father said his son was tortured and killed publically, triggering fear and anger among the people.
On Saturday the police had registered the FIR on the father’s complaint and arrested the bungalow owner and his friend. Police said the two suspects and others had gathered on the spot and subjected the teenager to severe torture.
The Rangers were called in after noticing the boy’s deteriorating condition. He was taken to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC), where he was pronounced dead on arrival.
Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah took notice of the incident and ordered strict action against all involved, saying that those who disrespect humanity do not deserve to be called humans.
The footage of the incident showed Rehan bound to a metallic grill and being interrogated by a mob that also beat him up severely, as several marks of torture were found on his body during his post-mortem examination at the JPMC.
Rubbishing the bungalow owner’s claim that Rehan was stealing valuables from his house, the boy’s father said his son had been hired as a butcher during Eidul Azha, and on the ill-fated day he had gone to Daniyal’s house to collect the money he was owed.
The boy’s family had also held a protest demonstration on Shahrah-e-Quaideen on Sunday and demanded strict action against the people responsible for the teenager’s brutal murder.