ATM thief’s custodial death: CM writes to LHC for judicial commission to probe incident

LAHORE: On the orders of Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar, Inspector General of Police (IGP) has removed Rahim Yar Khan District Police Officer (DPO) Umar F Salamat from his post over custodial death of an ATM (automated teller machine) alleged thief, Salahuddin.

The IGP Punjab has issued a notification in this regard. Additional charge of DPO Rahim Yar Khan has been given to SP Investigation Habib. The CM has also ordered a judicial inquiry into the custodial death of the alleged thief.

As per details, the Punjab CM has ordered for writing an application to the Lahore High Court (LHC) for constitution of a judicial commission to probe death of Salahuddin, who allegedly died due to severe torture by police in Rahim Yar Khan. The CM reportedly decided to form a judicial commission after new evidence surfaced in a police investigation.

Earlier, Senior Civil Judge Shaikh Fayyaz Hussain was tasked to carry out a probe into the death. The judge had appointed Mr Hussain as an inquiry officer to unearth the truth. A station house officer (SHO) and two investigation officers of City A-Division Police Station, who were nominated in the murder case, have been issued notices to appear before the judicial officer.

Salahuddin was arrested by police when he was recognised by the security officials in Rahim Yar Khan last Friday after his video clip attempting to steal money from an ATM and sticking out his tongue to the security camera went viral on the social media.

He died in the police custody one day after his arrest. Police claimed the accused had health issues; he was rushed to a hospital when his condition deteriorated, where he died. Meanwhile, “I am Salahuddin” was recorded as top trend on twitter. A number of youngsters acted like Salahuddin by sticking out tongue on the Facebook to condemn the police torture.

Chairman Senate Standing Committee on Human Rights Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar also took notice of the incident and ordered the DPO and IG to appear before him on Sept 12. He said Punjab had become a police state, which could not be tolerated at any cost. The Punjab Police allegedly killed three suspects in custody in as many days, while a number of incidents of misbehaviour with common citizens have also been reported. Prime Minister Imran Khan and Punjab CM Usman Buzdar have expressed displeasure to the IGP Punjab over the increasing incidents of police torture and misuse of powers.

Following the recent incidents, DIG Investigations Lahore Dr Inam Waheed has also issued new standard operating procedures (SOPs) for investigators. According to the new SOPs, unknown suspects could not be taken into custody till availability of solid evidence.