Police on Sunday registered a murder case against a mobile phone shop owner and his companion for beating a citizen to death. A 50-year-old GhulamSarwar, son of HussainBuksh was allegedly beaten to death by RanaSaleem, a mobile phone shop owner and his companion, Uzair Khan who is a policeman by profession and works at the Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) Cantonment Station. The Frere Hall police on Sunday registeredan First Information Report (FIR) under Section 302 of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) onbehalf of victim’s widow, namely MumtazBibi. The complainant in her recorded statement to the police stated that her husband was not a robber but the shop owner and his policeman friend killed her husband after accusing him of robbery. “My husband had told me about a cell phone which he had mistakenly brought home from a mobile shop,” she claimed. “He wanted to give it back to the shopowner so he called me and asked me to bring the cell phone over,” she added. MumtazBibi said that she had visited the Frere police station along with her son and handed a cellphone over to a policeman. She said that she asked them to give her a chanceto meet her husband but they said that they would allow her to meet her husband after a few hours. She also claimed that some policemen at the police station misbehaved with her and demanded Rs50, 000 as bribe money. “I received a phone call from a police official who told methat my husband had died and his body was at Jinnah hospital,” sheexplained. The widow demanded that the police higher-ups take stern actionagainst those involved in her husband’s killing as well as thosepolicemen who misbehaved with her and demanded bribe. Frere SHO ChaudhrySaeedAkhtar said that the man died as received a head injury. “Basically, deceased did not snatch or steal a cellphone from a shop but he cheated another citizen,” the officerclaimed. “The cell phone was purchased by another person who had a Saudi-bound flight. GhulamSarwar had received his cell phone from a shop using the receipt that the shop owner had given to the original owner of the phone,” said the SHO. “The situation turned violent when a shop owner found Ghulam two days after the incident and demanded a cell phone. When Ghulam refused, the shop owner and his friend started beating him him,” said Saeed. The SHO added that a case had beenregistered while further investigation was underway. Published in Daily Times, October 15th 2018.