KARACHI, April 16: Police have arrested three co-workers of Jagdeesh, who was beaten to death for allegedly making blasphemous remarks about Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him).

Initial findings compiled by the police suggested that Usman, Waqas and Hashim allegedly planned and provoked other workers to beat the member of the minority Hindu community to death outside their workplace in the Korangi Industrial Area.

“All the three workers absented themselves from work after the incident,” said an area police officer. “We came to know through questioning different co-workers of the victim and the management that initially these three men got involved in a discussion with the victim, which led to a brawl between them and others became involved in it.”

Jagdeesh Kumar, 22, was killed for allegedly making blasphemous remarks about Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him) on April 8. A resident of Mirpurkhas and staying in Lyari with his brother-in-law to earn a livelihood, Jagdeesh met the tragic incident which raised questions about the performance of police, who despite reaching the spot failed to prevent the workmen from beating their colleague to death.

Similarly, it also sent ripples of fears among hundreds of Hindu inhabitants at Marwari Mohalla in Lyari, who are not convinced of the alleged reason given by the police for Jagdeesh’s murder. They suspect the motive of the murder is beyond the one offered by the law-enforcers.

“It has never been an issue that we are Hindus and living in the middle of the majority Muslim population,” says Mina Kumari, a cook in her late 50s. Serving 100 per cent Muslim customers in shops at Jodia Bazaar, Ms Kumari like others feels there is more to it than meets the eye.

“We never felt strangers in this society. My business depends on Muslim clients, some of whom I have been serving for more than 20 years and they never made me feel that I am from a minority community. But incident like this one, if not investigated properly, may cast doubts over the future of our children in Pakistan.”

Kumari’s concerns matched the lines being followed by the law-enforcers while investigating the case, which was registered by the Korangi police station (FIR 207/2008) under Section 302 of the Pakistan Penal Code.

An area police official said that though the incident seemed a result of blasphemy, investigations were open and one could only find the motive behind the murder after the conclusion of the process.

“As we learned during the course of investigations that the incident took place after one of the arrested men was allegedly teased by Jagdeesh on religious grounds and it led to heated arguments between Jagdeesh and him, who was later joined by two other co-workers, later arrested by police,” he added.

He said though the police had arrested the workers on murder charges, none of the members from the victim’s family had approached the police station, neither law- enforcers had been able to contact any of Jagdeesh’s relatives, who are yet to return from Mirpurkhas after the funeral.

“But we are expecting them (Jadeesh’s family) within a week, which would help us expedite the investigations,” added the official.

Experts believe that in cases where motives of the murder are apparently described as a reaction against blasphemy, there is no provision in the law to charge such accused by people on their own.

“A person who takes the law into his own hands on the ground that he loses temper and can’t control his anger, can’t escape the charge,” said criminal lawyer Shahadat Awan.

He said the state was responsible for any law violated within its writ and in this particular case the suspects could be charged under Section 302 of the PPC for murder.