30 injury marks on body of Fasih
By Our Staff Reporter

KARACHI, Oct 24: There were at least 30 external injuries on the body of 26-year-old Fasih alias Jugnoo who was brought dead to the JPMC from CIA centre on Friday night.

Inquiries have shown that doctors who conducted the examination lasting for at least four hours have found injuries on almost every part of dead's body. There was, however, no internal injury or bleeding which could be considered as one of the causes of his death.

The medico-legal officers involved in the post-mortem of Fasih are yet to write a post-mortem report, according to MLO section at the JPMC. They have reserved their judgment on the causes of death saying there needed to be a chemical and histopathological examination of the dead.

The MLO section said that the chemical examination would show whether the death was caused by poisoning and his histopathological examination would reveal whether the boy had died of massive shock resulting from torture, fear, etc.

The MLO office said that they would not be able to write their conclusions unless they received reports from chemical examiners and histopathologists.

For these examinations, they have collected major viscera (samples) of dead's organs such as heart, stomach and lungs and handed over the same to the area police, which is supposed to pass it on to two different government-run medical facilities.

According to assistant police surgeon, Dr Irfan Qureshi, if death was not caused by poison, these injuries collectively would be considered sufficient reason for the boy's death.

Answering a question why the case was referred for chemical and histopathological examination, the doctor, who is in-charge of medico-legal section at the JPMC, said that the step was taken to verify the possibilities of poisoning because of two main reasons.

Firstly, he said, the death had taken place in police custody; secondly, rumours had it much before the body landed at the hospital that the boy had swallowed some poison during the custody.

Answering another question, the police surgeon said that the deceased had not received any head injury.

"Hands and feet were swollen. There were marks all over his body," he said and added that the doctors who had conducted the autopsy would be providing him their report on Monday.

Saddar police station in whose jurisdiction death took place, is yet to register an FIR. It said a case would only be registered after the magisterial inquiries were completed.

The register of the MLO office said that the deceased was brought at 9.15pm and his post-mortem ended at 1.15am. Those doctors (Dr Rafiq Memon and Dr Talib) who conducted the post-mortem were not present at the hospital on Saturday because of their alternate day-off.

Inquiries have shown that the reports of chemical and histopathological examiners could take even months as it happens in other cases. Besides, the police is yet to confirm officially that it had sent the major viscera of the dead for examination.

There exist contradictions among senior police officials' accounts over the death of Fasih alias Jugnoo.

The police are, however, tight-lipped officially over the issue as it did not provide answers to questions based on unconfirmed reports such as whether the boy consumed poison during custody or somebody else forced him to consume it. Police did not say whether the boy died of torture or some massive shock.

A senior police official, who requested anonymity, said Fasih had died of a massive shock. He added that the concerned CIA DSP sent Fasih to the hospital with a letter that he needed treatment for he was complaining of pain in his chest.

He categorically stated that Fasih died on his way to hospital. He added that there were not many injuries on his body which could become a cause of his death.

Answering a question whether the boy had taken poison or was poisoned at the CIA centre, he claimed that nothing of that sort had taken place at the centre.

However, he said, the policemen on duty had said that the boy had once swallowed a "Ponstan tablet" during his stay at the centre. He did not specify who had provided him with the tablet, etc.

He said Fasih seemed to be under tremendous pressure not because of police highhandedness, but the "moral pressure that had started telling on him similar to what Amirullah had experienced".

Another senior police official, who requested anonymity, however, did not rule out the possibility of torture as the main cause behind Fasih's death.

"After all, police had not invited him to a dinner," he remarked and added that the dead was a hardened criminal.

He said the police had only expressed its suspicion that the boy had consumed poison placed in his talisman, and added that the samples of the dead's organs had been sent for chemical examinations.