Police find swimming instructors’ statements contradictory

A Grade VI student who drowned to death in the swimming pool of his school during a swimming class on Tuesday was laid to rest amid tears and sobs on Wednesday.

Eleven-year-old Usman, son of Zeeshan Durrani was a student of Habib Public School. The tragic incident occurred when he was taking his swimming class. The school administration took him to a private hospital in the Clifton neihgbourhood where doctors pronounced him dead.

His funeral prayers were offered near his residence in Gulistan-e-Jauhar after Zuhr prayers. A large number of people, including his family members, relatives, neighbourers, and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf leaders, including Khurram Sher Zaman, attended the funeral. The deceased was laid to rest in a local graveyard.

Late on Tuesday night, the Docks police registered an FIR (No. 331/19) under sections 322/34 against the two already detained instructors, identified as Mumtaz Akbar and Saifullah, and school management on behalf of the boy’s father.

According to police investigators, they have recorded the statements of the instructors. They said they found contradictions in their statements as they had told the police that the boy had been retrieved from the swimming pool within five to six seconds, but initial investigations showed that the boy’s body was taken out of the pool about five minutes after his drowning as no instructor was present there when the incident occurred.

In the tragic incident, the sixth grader had drowned to death in the pool of his school during a swimming class on Tuesday. The deputy inspector general (DIG) of the South Zone has taken notice of the incident and sought a report from the Keamari Division’s superintendent of police. A case of Qatl-e-Khata was registered against the arrested instructors as well as against members of the school management, police said.