Abdul Rasheed, a 35-year-old rickshaw driver who had been detained in connection with a robbery at a cell phone shop in Karachi’s Defence Housing Authority (DHA), died on Sunday after being released from police custody.
Rickshaw Driver Detained and Died:
According to his relatives, the police had “subjected him to torture” while in custody, which left him unable to walk properly.
South Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Syed Asad Raza stated that the robbers who had snatched several cell phones worth around Rs10 million from a shop in DHA had used a rickshaw to commit the robbery.
With the aid of CCTV footage, investigators were able to track and arrest Rasheed, a Qayyumabad resident, “around five days ago”.
The SSP proved Rasheed’s innocence as the robbers had rented the rickshaw he was driving, so they released him on Friday night.
The Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre conducted Rasheed’s autopsy, but they are reserving the cause of death until the chemical and histopathological reports become available.
SSP Raza stated that the police were waiting for the final report from the doctors to verify the claims of torture made by the deceased’s relatives.
The South SSP (Investigation) PRO issued a statement saying that the police had taken notice of the rickshaw driver’s death.
Official Statement
The official statement revealed that the robbery had taken place at a mobile phone shop on DHA’s Khayaban-i-Saher on March 12, and Gizri police had filed a case under Sections 392 (robbery) and 397 (robbery or dacoity, with an attempt to cause death or grievous hurt) of the Pakistan Penal Code.
The official statement also revealed that the investigators had identified Rasheed’s rickshaw as the one used by the robbers with the help of CCTV footage.
Therefore, they detained him for further investigation and later released him.
The statement declared that they would take legal action once the post-mortem examination determined the exact cause of Abdul Rasheed’s death.
They would subject any officer involved to “strict legal action”.
Read More: PTI To Hold A Rally At Minar-E-Pakistan In Lahore On Wednesday
