Man killed in Lodhran police custody

LAHORE: The Crime Investigation Agency (CIA) Lodhran police have added another feather to the cap of the Punjab Police by allegedly killing a man in custody after his family refused to grease the palms of an inspector in the wee hours of Monday.

The victim has been survived by two widows and four children. Abdul Rehman, father of the deceased, told reporters that CIA Inspector Shahid Latif Channer and Sub-Inspector (SI) Faraz raided his house in Sherpur at around 3pm on Sunday and took away his son Allah Wasaya alias Kakka (40), along with them. They did not tell him the reasons for the arrest despite his requests.

With tears in his eyes over the loss of his son, Abdul Rehman said that he, along with his relatives, reached Sadar police station to meet his son. However, they were stopped at the police station main gate. He alleged that Shahid Latif demanded Rs3 lakh as bribe and threatened to kill his son if he did not give him the amount.

Victim's brother, Ajmal, said he requested for some time to arrange for the money, to which the inspector threatened that the family would receive the body in the morning.

On Monday morning, the victim's family received a call that the body of Allah Wasaya had been shifted to the morgue of District Headquarters Hospital Lodhran. The family reached the hospital, and later staged a peaceful protest demonstration against the police. They demanded immediate arrest of all those responsible for the murder to ensure justice to the aggrieved family.

Locals of the area told The News that Allah Wasaya had been a cattle thief for over 10 years and a number of cases of cattle theft had been registered against him. However, they claimed he never committed any robbery, dacoity or street crime.

As the police used to harass him following every incident of crime against property, he requested the notables of the area to help him and his family. About six months ago, the notables of the area in a large number appeared before the then DPO Lodhran, Jameel Zafar, and pledged to submit an affidavit that Allah Wasaya would not commit any crime in future.

The DPO assigned SHO Galewal Zubair to receive the affidavit from him, who later did so in a local mosque. A written statement was recorded along with pictures of the person.

In the meantime, someone's goat was stolen in the area. They informed CIA Inspector Shahid Latif, alleging that Allah Wasaya was involved in it. It's learnt that the victim had sold his agricultural lands and he had cash with him. Sources said police were tempted to get huge bribe from him without any delay. So the police picked him up by misguiding the DPO. Police tried to get money openly, as Shahid Latif is notorious for minting money from the poor people. Over failure, police reportedly subjected him to torture, which proved fatal for Allah Wasaya.

A large number of people offered his funeral prayers, which also belied the police claims that the deceased was a hardened criminal.

DPO Lodhran Syed Karar Hussain said on the issue that it was an unfortunate incident. He said the police have registered a case against Inspector Shahid Latif Channer, SI Faraz and other policemen involved in the incident. He added that merit would be ensured at every cost. Police teams are conducting raids to arrest the accused cops, he said. To a question, Karar said they were waiting for the medical report of the deceased to know the cause of the death.