BAHAWALPUR: The Nowshehra Jadid police allegedly tortured a suspect in a theft case to death in their custody here on Friday.

Dawn has learnt that Abidwasnabbedbylocals last night when he was allegedly stealing solar panels from the roof of a building in the area and was handed over to Nowshehra Jadid police officials.

Later, the police told Abid`s family that he had succumbed to the injuries he had suffered at the hands of those who had nabbed him, at hospital.

On the other hand, Abid`s family members staged a demonstration, alleging that Abid was tortured to death in police custody.

They claimed that Abid was handed over to the police alive by a mob, demanding registration of a murder case against the officials responsible for his death and their immediate arrest.

The police officials alleged that when Abid was handed over to them, he was already in a serious condition as the people who caught him had subjected him to sever torture.

Police sources claimed that an inquiry would be conducted into the suspect`s death to determine the cause and if any police official was found involved, action would be taken against him.

Police spokesmanUmar Sleem told Dawn that the body of Abid had been sent for the postmortem examination, while Nowshehra Jadid station house officer (SHO) had been transferred.

ANTI-DRUG STEPS: The Punjab government has decided to take strict anti-drug measures in the educational institutions of South Punjab.

In this connection, the South Punjab Higher Education Secretary Altaf Baloch presided over a meeting at the committee room of Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education (BISE) here on Friday, that was attended by the officials of education department.

According to a press release, the South Punjab secretary directed the officials to prepare a comprehensive plan for the eradication of drug and tobacco use in the educational institutions in the region.

Mr Baloch directed the DPI to ask the heads of all the educational institutions to submit certificates that their respective institutes were free of drugs and smoking.

He said the educational institutions failing to submit these certificates, would loses affiliation with the respective BISE.

The secretary also directed the DPI to ensure installation of CCTV cameras around the examination halls of all the three boards in South Punjab for monitoring the situation during examination.