Police arrest two officers after teen dies in custody in Pakistan's southern metropolitan

Police in Pakistan’s southern port city arrested two Crime Investigation Agency (CIA) officers who were booked after a teenage boy died under controversial circumstances in the custody of the Special Investigation Unit (SIU), officials said Saturday.

Relatives of the victim, Muhammad Irfan, staged a sit-in outside an Edhi morgue in Sohrab Goth, accusing the police of torture and demanding justice. Carrying Irfan’s coffin, they blocked the main road and called for an impartial investigation along with the arrest of all officers involved.

Authorities suspended all seven CIA and SIU officers a day earlier after the incident was reported. Police officials, however, claimed that Irfan died of a heart attack while in custody.

A first information report (FIR) was filed the same day at Saddar Police Station against the personnel on the complaint of SIU and CIA Station House Officer (SHO) Mumtaz Ahmed under Sections 34 (common intention) and 319 (manslaughter) of the Pakistan Penal Code.

The FIR stated that four people were detained by SIU police near Lilly Bridge in Karachi’s Cantonment Station area on Wednesday after a tip-off from an informant.

According to the FIR, a case was registered against the detainees on the same day, and they were handed over to an Assistant Sub-Inspector (ASI).

SHO Ahmed said he was later informed by the investigating officer that two ASIs continued interrogating Irfan when his health suddenly deteriorated and he became unconscious.

He said Irfan was taken to a hospital without his knowledge, adding that the SIU personnel had shown “negligence” during the boy’s arrest and custody.

Ahmed also said that the registration of the case against the deceased appeared “dubious,” raising further suspicion about the officers’ conduct.

Later in the day, negotiations between protesters and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) officials succeeded, and the road from Sohrab Goth to New Karachi was reopened to traffic.