Rahim Yar Khan
Our Correspondent
A murder case was registered against three police officials on Monday for allegedly torturing to death Salahuddin Ayubi, a robbery suspect who was arrested after his video of breaking open an ATM machine, making faces and sticking his tongue out at the CCTV camera had gone viral. The case was registered on a complaint of Ayubi’s father against City A-Division’s Station House Officer Mehmoodul Hassan and investigation officers Sub-Inspector Shafaat Ali and Assistant Sub-Inspector Matloob Hussain. Ayubi had died in police custody on Sunday.
Ayubi’s father Muhammad Afzaal, in a first information report (FIR) lodged in the City A-Division police station of Rahim Yar Khan, where the deceased had been detained, stated that his son was mentally disabled and had been out of touch with him for a while. According to the FIR, since the deceased was mentally ill, Afzaal had tattooed Ayubi’s name and address on his son’s arm for identification purposes.
Afzaal said that he was not told about Ayubi’s arrest by the police and came to know about his son’s death through media on Sunday. Upon hearing the news, he tried to contact the police but received no information after which Afzaal, along with two of his nephews, came to Rahim Yar Khan, where he found out that Ayubi had been arrested for theft and was allegedly killed during interrogation.
The complainant further said that police had conducted Ayubi’s post-mortem examination without informing the family. The FIR was registered under Sections 302 (punishment for murder) and 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) of the Pakistan Penal Code. Ayubi, a resident of Gujranwala, was arrested in Rahim Yar Khan when he was caught stealing from an ATM machine on Friday. On Sunday morning, he was reported dead. According to the district police officer’s spokesperson Zeeshan Randhawa, Ayubi was behaving like a “mad man” in lockup when he suddenly became unwell.
He said that the man was unconscious when he was shifted to the emergency ward of Sheikh Zayed Medical College Hospital, where doctors confirmed his death. While talking to reporters Monday, Afzaal said that his son had been arrested on multiple occasions earlier, but was always released due to his medical condition. Afzaal’s legal counsel Usman Khawar Ghuman expressed hope that the nominated persons would be arrested and justice will be done.
Meanwhile, the focal person of Sheikh Zayed Medical College Hospital, Rana Ilyas Ahmed, told media that samples of Ayubi’s corpse had been sent to the Punjab Forensic Science Laboratory Lahore.
