Three policemen were arrested for the alleged kidnapping, torture and murder of a suspect on Monday.
Assistant Sub Inspector Murtaza and Constables Fazlur Rehman, Kamran, Shahid and Shafqat of Harbanspura police had picked up Rizwan alias Raja, 30, from his house two days ago, according to Muhammad Ramazan, the brother of the deceased.
They kept him in illegal detention and tortured him, resulting in his death, after which they dumped his body in the Lahore Canal, he said in his application for an FIR.
Rizwan’s body was fished out of the canal in Mughalpura police jurisdiction on Monday. They made announcements in local mosques seeking help to identify the body. Ramazan came forward to identify the deceased as his brother. He then filed an application for the registration of a case against the five police officials for kidnapping and murder.
Harbanspura police arrested Fazlur Rehman, Kamran and Shahid and turned them over to Mughalpura police. ASI Murtaza and Constable Shafqat are still at large.
According to the duty officer at Mughalpura police station, the accused policemen claimed that they had picked up Rizwan for selling drugs in Wali Park, but as they transported him to the police station by motorbike, he jumped into the canal. The policemen had thought that he had succeeded in escaping, he said.
The Mughalpura SHO said that the body had been sent for an autopsy to ascertain the cause of death.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 2nd, 2013.