KARACHI, Dec 15: Four police officials, including a deputy superintendent of police (DSP), who were booked 20 days ago for killing a 30-year-old murder suspect in their custody, are still untraceable.

The Sharea Faisal police had registered on Nov 25 a murder case (FIR 915/2008) against DSP Hafeez Junejo, Inspector Hadi Bux, Sub-inspector Malik Ashraf and ASI Javed Chaudhry of the investigation police for killing Kishan Chandar.

An investigator, who wished not to be named, told Dawn that the police had so far failed to find clue to the whereabouts of the suspected police officials as they had gone “underground to avoid arrest”.

“Raids were conducted in the respective hometowns of the suspects but to no avail,” he added.

The victim, who was booked in a case of murder of his maternal uncle, Amit Kumar, on Oct 11 by the Sharea Faisal police, was surrendered before the police by his brother, Bhero Mal, on Nov 4. The following day, the man died in police custody.

The victim’s brother alleged that Kishan Chandar was tortured to death by the Sharea Faisal police, who in turn claimed that the young suspect died of cardiac arrest.

He claimed that the killers of Amit Kumar had kidnapped his brother after killing the victim and they threw his brother at a desolate place near New Sabzi Mandi off the Super Highway on Nov 3. He said he had himself taken his brother to the police as he had been booked in the murder case.

The case against the absconding police officials was registered on the order of the Sindh High Court on a complaint of Bhero Mal, who stated that the police were not registering an FIR.

The court also ordered that the case be investigated under the supervision of a senior police officer.

The SP of Saddar Town, Dr Amir Shaikh, who is in charge of the investigation, told Dawn that the suspected police officials had gone in hiding. “We have been trying to track them down, but have got no clue to them so far,” he added.

The town police chief said the final postmortem report had been received from the office of the police surgeon. “The postmortem report is too technical and we are trying to seek the help of a medical expert so that it could be understood by investigation officers,” he added.

The postmortem on the victim’s body was conducted by a board of doctors, comprising Prof Farhat Mirza, a forensic expert in the Dow University of Health Sciences, Dr Hamid Ali Parhyar, the police surgeon, and Medico-Legal Officer Dr Karar Hussain, in the presence of the EDO (Revenue) under Section 176 of the Criminal Procedure Code.

A member of the board seeking anonymity told Dawn that the cause of the victim’s death was stated to be “haemorrhage in the stomach and small intestine due to chronic gastritis and multiple ulcers”.

He said the size of the victim’s internal organs was abnormal, most probably due to the excessive use of alcohol.

He said the postmortem report showed that the victim’s stomach was completely empty, suggesting that he had not taken food for at least two days before he died.

The board member said the findings of the postmortem report were in favour of the suspects, though the body did bear several marks of torture.

Police sources said the suspected police officials had gone into hiding and they opted not to seek pre-arrest bail till the final report of the postmortem.

Jobless man commits suicide

A 35-year-old man, father of two, committed suicide on Monday in his house in Lal Goth, a shantytown in Landhi.

The police said that the victim, Javed Akhter, son of Murtaza Hussain, was a pickup driver, but he had been jobless for the past many months.

They said the man was found hanging from the ceiling fan in his room in the morning.

The body was shifted to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre for a postmortem examination.

Later, the body was handed over to the victim’s family after medico-legal formalities.

Body found

An unidentified man was found shot dead near the UBL Sports Complex in Federal B Area.

The Jauharabad police said the body was shifted to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital for a postmortem examination.

Sources at the hospital’s medico-legal section told Dawn that the bearded victim, wearing light-brown shalwar-qamees, received two bullets in his upper torso. They said the victim appeared to be in his mid-30s.

Burnt to death

A 62-year-old man was killed after he received fatal burns near the passport office in Saddar.

Identified as Mohammed Din, the victim was a former watchman at the Pakistan Secretariat.

The police said the victim had lit a bonfire to keep himself warm before he slept at a compound near the passport office. They said the fire caught him and he was fatally burnt.

He died before he could be shifted to hospital.