Two men die in Turbat police custody

QUETTA: Two suspects died in police custody under mysterious circumstances in Turbat, Balochistan on Tuesday.

A senior official in Turbat said the men were arrested on Monday night in the Sangani Sar area and had been locked up inside the guard room, not the legal or authorised detention place.

The victims were identified as Nasir Baloch from Panjgur and Saddam Sudeer Baloch from Turbat. The bodies were taken to the Civil Hospital Turbat.

“We could not specifically mention the actual cause of death since the hospital does not have a police surgeon nor has the facilities to carry out internal post-mortems,” the medical superintendent told The Express Tribune.

The mother of one of the victims has registered a case at the Turbat police station against the district police officer (DPO), Imran Qureshi, under sections 302 and 34 of the Pakistan Penal Code. Qureshi, however, denies the charges.

He said the additional SHO, Noor Baksh, had informed him about the arrest of the two suspects during routine patrolling in the area. “The additional SHO brought the suspects to the guard room of DPO instead of taking them to the police station,” he said. “I directed him to interrogate them, but he did not respond to my calls the whole night.”

Balochistan Home Secretary Akbar Durrani said the provincial police chief had taken notice of the incident and ordered an inquiry. “Action will be taken after reviewing the medical report.”

Meanwhile, the bodies were handed over to the heirs without the internal post-mortem.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 11^th, 2015.