Punjab Inspector General police Usman Anwar has rejected PTI's assertions their worker Ali Bilal's died in police custody, saying his death was a case of road accident.
The top officer made the remarks while addressing a presser alongside caretaker CM Mohsin Naqvi, on Saturday.
Ali Bilal, also known as Zillay Shah, died as the caretaker government attempted to block a rally called to launch PTI's campaign for the provincial elections scheduled for April 30.
Anwar said the death was purely a road “accident” which was “unfortunately misinterpreted” on a public level.
“The evidence clearly indicate that this is an accident case. None of the accused in this case tried to kill and blame it on the police,” he maintained.
“The body of an innocent man was brought to Services Hospital by a black Vigo at 6:52pm,” the official narrated the incident.
As seen in the CCTV footage of the incident, the suspects look “clearly tense and they tried to save the victim at one point before transporting him to a hospital,” he said.
The owner of the vehicle was identified as Raja Shakeel, vice president of the PTI in Central Punjab.
Anwar said the ‘conspiracy’ was foiled by police’s technical teams. “We got all evidences and details of phone calls made by political leaders to different people.”
Then, he added, fake videos and messages were posted on social media to project a wrongful image of the LEA and the administration.
Speaking on the occasion, Mohsin Naqvi called out PTI for alleging the involvement of police and the administration in the incident.
Read this too: FIR Lodged Against Imran Khan, PTI Leaders For ‘Assaulting Police’
He lamented that the PTI leader Yasmin Rashid went ahead with a presser targeting the administration and the police, despite having knowledge of the facts.
“Those who were on the vehicle told everything to Rashid, but they [PTI] kept on blaming the provincial administration,” Naqvi remarked.
Naqvi also claimed that the victim’s father was offered money to back the party’s narrative behind the death.
“We are not barring you from politics,” he said and advised the former ruling party not to level baseless allegations against the administration.
“It is my responsibility to bear such attacks but threatening to file an FIR with murder charges on the basis of mere assumptions is a bit too much.”
“I will not surrender. I will prefer going home but will not give in,” the caretaker CM declared.
He, on the occasion, categorically denied that police were given any orders to torture workers of a specific party.
A day earlier, police claimed the arrest of two suspects, namely Umar and Jehanzeb, who said that Bilal sustained multiple injuries after being involved in an accident with their car.
On the other hand, the party’s leadership holds the stance that their worker was killed while in police custody.
According to the duo, the accident occurred in Fortress Stadium, where Bilal was accompanied by five others, believed to be PTI workers.
The claims of torture were confirmed from the postmortem report, issued by Mayo Hospital. The report points to “massive blunt trauma”, citing a fracture to his skull and subsequent bleeding as the cause for death.
It also pointed at the damage to Bilal’s liver, spleen and testes, which, it said, led to profuse bleeding.
https://twitter.com/CurrentPaki1/status/1634252526697455636
The top officer made the remarks while addressing a presser alongside caretaker CM Mohsin Naqvi, on Saturday.
Ali Bilal, also known as Zillay Shah, died as the caretaker government attempted to block a rally called to launch PTI's campaign for the provincial elections scheduled for April 30.
Anwar said the death was purely a road “accident” which was “unfortunately misinterpreted” on a public level.
“The evidence clearly indicate that this is an accident case. None of the accused in this case tried to kill and blame it on the police,” he maintained.
“The body of an innocent man was brought to Services Hospital by a black Vigo at 6:52pm,” the official narrated the incident.
As seen in the CCTV footage of the incident, the suspects look “clearly tense and they tried to save the victim at one point before transporting him to a hospital,” he said.
The owner of the vehicle was identified as Raja Shakeel, vice president of the PTI in Central Punjab.
Anwar said the ‘conspiracy’ was foiled by police’s technical teams. “We got all evidences and details of phone calls made by political leaders to different people.”
Then, he added, fake videos and messages were posted on social media to project a wrongful image of the LEA and the administration.
Speaking on the occasion, Mohsin Naqvi called out PTI for alleging the involvement of police and the administration in the incident.
Read this too: FIR Lodged Against Imran Khan, PTI Leaders For ‘Assaulting Police’
He lamented that the PTI leader Yasmin Rashid went ahead with a presser targeting the administration and the police, despite having knowledge of the facts.
“Those who were on the vehicle told everything to Rashid, but they [PTI] kept on blaming the provincial administration,” Naqvi remarked.
Naqvi also claimed that the victim’s father was offered money to back the party’s narrative behind the death.
“We are not barring you from politics,” he said and advised the former ruling party not to level baseless allegations against the administration.
“It is my responsibility to bear such attacks but threatening to file an FIR with murder charges on the basis of mere assumptions is a bit too much.”
“I will not surrender. I will prefer going home but will not give in,” the caretaker CM declared.
He, on the occasion, categorically denied that police were given any orders to torture workers of a specific party.
A day earlier, police claimed the arrest of two suspects, namely Umar and Jehanzeb, who said that Bilal sustained multiple injuries after being involved in an accident with their car.
On the other hand, the party’s leadership holds the stance that their worker was killed while in police custody.
According to the duo, the accident occurred in Fortress Stadium, where Bilal was accompanied by five others, believed to be PTI workers.
The claims of torture were confirmed from the postmortem report, issued by Mayo Hospital. The report points to “massive blunt trauma”, citing a fracture to his skull and subsequent bleeding as the cause for death.
It also pointed at the damage to Bilal’s liver, spleen and testes, which, it said, led to profuse bleeding.
https://twitter.com/CurrentPaki1/status/1634252526697455636