FAISALABAD, May 20: A judicial inquiry has come up with the startling finding that a man said to be a rival of a supporter of Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah Khan was gunned down in a staged police encounter on Jhang Road here on Dec 5 last year.

Civil Judge and Judicial Magistrate Shahzad Aslam Chadhar investigated the death of Zakriya at the hands of Jhang Bazaar police. A copy of the inquiry report has been obtained by Dawn.

On a complaint filed by Asif Butt, an associate of the minister, Zakriya was booked along with his three friends by the Factory Area police on Oct 21 for allegedly killing three men --- Bashir, Tariq and Rafiq. The three other accused in the case were Rana Nasir and Rana Rashid (who were brothers) and Imran Haider alias Boota.

By now all the four men mentioned in the FIR have been killed --- in different encounters. They all belonged to the constituency of the provincial minister.

Soon after Zakriya's death, his family alleged that he had been killed by police in a staged encounter at the behest of the minister. The minister denied the allegations.

Sources said that Zakriya was once a supporter of Rana Sanaullah but he developed differences with him.

During deposition, Sakina Bibi, the mother of the deceased, said her children lived abroad and her husband had died. So, there was no need for an inquiry. She said that she would not raise objections if police officials were exonerated.

Zakriya's sister Umme Kulsoom said she did not want to proceed against the policemen because she was married and lived separately.

The counsel of the accused policemen argued that the legal heirs of the deceased did not want to proceed against the police officials. There was no evidence indicating when the policemen had killed Zakriya.

The former SHO of Jhang Bazaar police station, Farrukh Waheed, now serving as Razabad SHO, said police had fired in self-defence at Zakriya and his accomplices, who managed to escape. He said the regional police officer and commissioner had praised him for his action.

The inquiry report said that 11 policemen took part in the encounter after they had signalled three motorcyclists to stop.

Samanabad SHO Yasir Jutt told the inquiry that Zakriya was hit near the gate of an agriculture research organisation but the site plan of the encounter showed that he was gunned down some 30 metres away.

The inquiry report said the post-mortem of Zakriya did not endorse the police story. The examination showed that the deceased received nine injuries, his skull had several fractures and there was a blood clot in his brain.

Three stitches were present on the head when the body was brought in for post-mortem. The report indicated that Zakriya had been beaten up severely.

After hearing the arguments of both the sides, the judge noted that Sakina Bibi and her daughter were the legal heirs of Zakriya. Sakina believed that her son, a student of 12th class, was innocent but she did not want to proceed against police.

“In my view both the ladies are afraid of the police. No one with week limbs can fight the big and powerful enemy,” the judge said.

The report said that Inspector Yasir Jutt, Sub-Inspectors Farrukh Waheed, Alam Sher, Maqbool Ahmed and ASIs Zahid Haleem and Matiullah were responsible for the murder of Zakriya. It noted that a fictitious story was put forth to cover up the crime.

Describing the state of affairs obtaining in the police department, the judicial magistrate remarked: “Today the police officials receive hatred and give hatred. They are the multipliers of hatred.

“Don't fear robbers or dacoits or thieves. They represent external dangers, petty threats. We should fear ourselves.

“Prejudice and vengeance are the real robbers. The great dangers lurk within the atmosphere of departmental and institutional degradation.”