Police brutality: Man killed in custody despite release orders from court

KARACHI: A man in police custody for a land controversy died on Tuesday in what the aggrieved family members claim was police brutality, ARY News reported.

Despite the Court orders for victim’s release, the Sohrab Goth Police kept him in extra-judicial custody and demanded a bribe of Rs100,000 to comply, family of the deceased claimed.

A man named Rehmat Khan was arrested by local police five days ago in a controversy over a land but when his family procured release orders from the relevant court, police impeded the process and allegedly demanded bribe from the family.

Grieving family claimed they paid police Rs15,000 to expedite the release already sanctioned by courts, but to no avail.

The family said when they went to police station today to meet their arrested relative, police initially lied about his court hearing and later after hours of beating around the bush and evading, they informed them about his passing.

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But their plight didn’t end there, according to the family, as when they reached the morgue where the body of the deceased was kept, police added insult to their injury and denied handing over the body. Family said they requested that courts order the custody of body and a post mortem to probe cause of death.

It may be noted that the deceased Rehmat was arrested from a estate agency in Sohrab Goth who was arrested in a case registered against him by a man named Mehboob Tareen.

Police said the man died due to a heart attack while in custody.