KARACHI: A man, whose two teenage daughters had been missing for the past two months, was found dead in a police lock-up under controversial circumstance after he was interrogated overnight by law enforcers, officials said on Wednesday.

Police claimed that 55-year-old Imran Hussain committed suicide in the lockup of the Shershah police station.

A police spokesperson said that on Sept 16 two teenage sisters — Hafsa and Maria — had left home to buy something from a local shop after taking money from their grandmother in Shershah. However, they never returned and the police registered a case under Section 364 (kidnapping or abducting in order to murder) against unknown persons on the complaint of missing girls’ maternal uncle, Faizan.

Hafsa was Imran’s stepdaughter while Maria was his biological daughter.

The spokesperson said that Mr Husain was called by the Shershah police on Tuesday night at the police station where he was grilled in connection with the disappearance of his daughter and stepdaughter.

After interrogation, Imran was sent to the lock-up, where his body was found hanging with a ceiling fan on Wednesday, the spokesperson said.

The body was shifted to the Dr Ruth Pfau Civil Hospital Karachi for medico-legal formalities.

Police Surgeon Summaiya Syed said that the body was kept at the morgue and a post-mortem examination would be carried out in presence of a judicial magistrate and forensic expert on Thursday (today).

Talking to the media, Faizan said the police had called him and his brother-in-law Imran for interrogation on Tuesday evening. He said that the police told him that they detained Imran and told him that they wanted to ‘interrogate’ him further about the disappearance of the two siblings till Wednesday morning.

Faizan said that when he and his sister Yasmeen arrived at the police station on Wednesday morning, they were informed that Imran committed suicide by hanging himself with a ceiling fan.

However, the DIG-South Syed Asad Raza took notice of the incident and directed registration of an FIR against investigator officer Shahzad Khattak and Station Investigation Officer (SIO) Arshad Tanoli over negligence.

Both the officials were taken into custody and a case under manslaughter and negligence charges was registered against them. “Further investigation of the case is underway,” said the spokesperson.

The FIR stated that Imran was made “part of investigation and was directed to stay at the police lock-up where he with the help of a rope committed suicide by hanging himself with ceiling fan”.

Published in Dawn, November 30th, 2023