FAISALABAD: Three police officials were booked in a murder case on Monday for allegedly torturing viral ATM thief Salahuddin Ayubi to death.
The FIR was registered on a complaint of Ayubi’s father against City A-Division’s Station House Officer Mehmoodul Hassan and investigation officers Sub-Inspector Shafaat Ali and Assistant Sub-Inspector Matloob Hussain under Sections 302 (punishment for murder) and 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC).
Earlier, his video of stealing an Automated Teller Machine (ATM) card in Faisalabad had gone viral which made it easier for security officials to recognise and arrest him. In the video, the thief can be seen breaking open an ATM machine, making faces and sticking his tongue out at the CCTV camera had gone viral.
On Friday, he once again had managed to break into an ATM booth in Rahim Yar Khan and was trying to break open the ATM machine when he was apprehended by the police.
The district police officer’s (DPO) spokesman, Zeeshan Randhawa said that Salahuddin had broken into ATM machines in Gujranwala, Sheikhupura, Faislabad and Gujarat and had also been arrested on three prior occasions. He said that Salahuddin was let go every time he presented himself as being speech impaired.
“Upon his latest arrest, he initially put on an act, pretending to be speech-impaired, but later spoke to the investigators,” said Randhawa.
On Sunday morning, he was reported dead.
“Salahuddin was behaving like a “mad man” in lockup when he suddenly became unwell. He was unconscious when he was shifted to the emergency ward of Sheikh Zayed Medical College Hospital, where doctors confirmed his death,” the DPO said.
The now-deceased criminal’s father Muhammad Afzaal, in the FIR has stated that his son was mentally unstable and had not been in contact with the family for a while whereas he had gotten his son’s arm tattooed with his name and address for identification purposes.
Afzaal said that he was not told about Ayubi’s arrest by the police and came to know about his son’s death through media on Sunday. Upon hearing the news, he tried to contact the police but received no information after which Afzaal, along with two of his nephews, came to Rahim Yar Khan, where he found out that Ayubi had been arrested for theft and was allegedly killed during interrogation.
The complainant also adds that police conducted Salahuddin’s post-mortem examination without informing or taking consent from the family.
On the other hand, Sheikh Zayed Medical College Hospital focal person Rana Ilyas Ahmed told a local media outlet that samples of Ayubi’s corpse had been sent to the Punjab Forensic Science Laboratory in Lahore.
Interestingly, he stated that a final post-mortem report would take a month to prepare.
Legal counsel for the deceased’s father, Usman Khawar Ghuman has said that he is hopeful that the nominated persons would be arrested soon so that justice is not delayed.