'Fake encounter': Inquiry committee constituted to probe into Waqas murder case

FAISALABAD: Faisalabad police department has constituted a five-member inquiry committee to hold an investigation into the alleged murder of a citizen Waqas by firing of police officials, ARY News reported on Thursday.

City Police Officer (CPO) Sohail Chaudhry issued a notification regarding the constitution of an inquiry committee which will be headed by Senior Superintendent Police (SSP) Investigation Bilal Iftikhar.

Superintendent Police Iqbal Town Kamran Asghar has been appointed as the convener of the committee. In-charge CDU Muhammad Javaid was given the responsibility to provide technical assistance to the investigators.

The committee was tasked to give a daily briefing to the CPO till reaching the conclusion of the probe.

It is pertinent to mention here that four arrests have been made by the police forces by taking an assistant sub-inspector and three constables into custody in the Waqas murder case.

Read: Police open fire on vehicle in Faisalabad, youngster killed 

Prior to the formation of the inquiry committee, a murder case was registered against four policemen under three different sections over the complaint of the slain youngster’s brother.

Waqas’ brother Owais stated in the complaint against the ‘fake encounter’ that ASI Shahid went furious after his deceased brother’s vehicle ran over his foot. Later, the police officer threatened Waqas when he stopped the car while other officials pulled their rifles which made him afraid of being killed.

Owais added that the officials then chased the vehicle when he tried to drive away from the scene. He claimed that his slain brother stopped his car again in a suburban village and surrendered before the officials by raising his hands, but a constable Usman allegedly opened fire on him over the orders of ASI Shahid.

It added that Waqas was seriously wounded and fell down to the ground after receiving a bullet in his stomach, but the police officials continued kicking and torturing him with their guns.

The police patrolling team carried out aerial firing to disperse the local residents who had gathered on the scene. Later, the police team drove away from the scene along with Waqas’ body and his car, stated Owais.

Read: Accused remanded into police custody in Osama Satti murder case

Earlier on Wednesday late night, at least one person identified as Waqas had lost his life and three others sustained injuries after police opened fire on a vehicle in Faisalabad, claiming that it did not stop on a check-point.

Police had claimed that a patrolling team had indicated a vehicle to stop during snap checking, however, the driver tried to race away from the cops.

The cops had opened fire on the vehicle, killing one person and injuring three others. “The victim is identified as Waqas, who is a resident of Samandri area of the city,” they said.

The police had claimed that Waqas and others in the vehicles had consumed alcohol. The body and injured had been shifted to a local hospital for medico-legal formalities and treatment respectively.

Earlier in the month, a young man Osama Satti had been killed by Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) personnel after they claimed the boy refused to stop his vehicle at a check-point following a robbery report on the wireless in Islamabad. The post mortem report later found that the boy was shot multiple times from the front.