Death of accused in police custody sparks protest in Kasur

KASUR: Death of an accused in police custody sparked protest at village Bhair Sodian in the limits of Allahabad police station on Sunday.

The victim was in the police custody in a rape-cum-murder case of an 18-year-old girl of the same village. The family alleged that the police tortured the accused to death after accepting heavy bribe from the complainant family.

On the other hand, the police claimed that the accused died of heart attack. According to Muhammad Hayat, complainant of the case, the police arrested his brother Abdul Ghafoor in the rape-cum-murder case. He alleged that the police sided with the family of the deceased girl and accepted bribe and tortured the accused to death in the presence of the complainants. He claimed that Ghafoor died before he reached the Allahabad Rural Health Centre.

Later, the family members of the deceased and scores of villagers, including women, gathered on Depalpur Road near village Bhair Sodian and staged a protest demonstration. The protesters were chanting slogans against the police. On the orders of SP Investigation Shahbaz Elahi, Allahabad police lodged a case against six accused, including SI Fiaz Ahmed, ASI Maqsood Sajid, Constable Khalid Javed and three others Asghar Ali, Muhammad Asif and Shan Ali.

SP Investigation Elahi has also constituted a committee comprising a DSP and three inspectors of Chunian police to probe the matter.

COMMITS SUICIDE: Poverty forced a man to commit suicide at his rented shop in furniture market outside Kot Usman Khan in the limits of B-Division police station on Sunday.

Muhammad Tariq, father of four, ended his life by hanging himself in his rented shop of hardware.

According to locals, Tariq was worried due to debt as the creditors were pressing him for the return of their amount. The police have shifted the body to the DHQ Hospital for autopsy and started investigation.