By Staff Reporter
MULTAN: The man accused of chasing down and killing a 15-year-old orphan with his car in Multan has been shot dead by Punjab’s Crime Control Department (CCD) in Bahawalpur, hours after police said he escaped custody.
Tauqeer Nazir, a contractor, died early on Wednesday in what police described as an exchange of fire near the city’s Northern Bypass, where officers tried to stop two men on a motorcycle.
CCD District Officer Irfan Akbar said the men fired on the police team instead of stopping. He said Nazir was hit by bullets fired by his own accomplice, who got away. Special teams are searching for the second man.
Police have not said how Nazir, who was being held at DHA police station in Multan on physical remand, left custody or how he reached Bahawalpur. A CCD statement said he escaped on Tuesday night.
Nazir was arrested at the scene on Monday after the death of Waseem Abbas in the Royal Orchard housing society. CCTV footage shows a boy running along a road after spotting a car, which swerves and follows him. The boy falls, strikes the gate of a house and dies.
Rescue officials said Waseem suffered a severe head injury and died where he fell. A post-mortem examination found fractures to his skull, jaw and nose, along with severe injuries to the left side of his head and face.
The first information report (FIR) names Nazir and a second man, Amjad Ali, under Sections 302 and 34 of the Pakistan Penal Code, covering murder and acts committed with a common intention. It says the two pursued Waseem in a Honda car and deliberately drove at him, and that his head hit a pillar at the gate of house 3-A.
The FIR says Sub-Inspector Liaquat Ali Bhatti was on patrol in Royal Orchard at about 4:35pm when Waseem’s cousin, Mukhtiar Ahmed, approached him. Mukhtiar said Waseem had been working as an electrician for the suspects, who had allegedly beaten and threatened to kill him.
Two residents, Saqlain Raza and Syed Naseem Abbas, are named as witnesses. They told police Waseem ran past shortly before the incident, saying the men wanted to kill him.
The report says the car stopped after the collision and the suspects tried to flee. Nazir was caught at the scene, and Amjad escaped. Police seized the vehicle. Amjad remains at large. Police said the case was registered on the state’s behalf.
Punjab Information Minister Azma Bokhari said the pair chased the boy for about a kilometre. Police said their initial inquiries found no evidence that Waseem had been involved in theft.
Nazir appeared before Judicial Magistrate Saadia Aslam on Tuesday. Police asked for 14 days’ physical remand and were granted a few. Lawyers attacked him outside the courtroom despite the police presence. Social media videos showed that some slapped him, and officers took him away in a rickshaw.
Multan City Police Officer Akhtar Farooq told reporters the previous day: “We all are in deep pain.” He said raids were underway to find the second suspect.
In a video that circulated online, Nazir claimed the car had slipped. Shoaib Haider, general secretary of the orphanage where Waseem lived, said the footage did not appear to bear that out. “It looks as though he was hit with the car,” Haider said, adding that Nazir would have to explain during the investigation why the boy ran from him.
Waseem had lived at the orphanage for five years and wanted to learn electrical work. The orphanage sent him to Nazir about a week before his death, after making inquiries about the contractor, who employed 40 to 45 boys, Haider said. He said there had been no earlier complaints against Nazir. Another boy from the orphanage who had been working for him was brought back after the killing.
Waseem’s cousin Nadeem, who has lived at the orphanage for six years, said the boy had often said he did not want to go to the electrician and wanted to go home. He said he had never met Nazir.
Waseem’s uncle, Jafar Hussain, said the boy’s father died nine years ago and that family members looked after him before he was admitted to the orphanage. “Tauqeer deliberately killed my nephew,” Hussain said, demanding justice. Residents said Waseem and his brother were placed in the orphanage after their mother remarried. His maternal grandfather said he wanted the boy to be educated rather than struggle on the streets.
Waseem was buried in his ancestral graveyard in Mouza Daulatpur, in Muzaffargarh district. Only close relatives and orphanage officials attended, and the prayers were held quickly because of the condition of his body.
Police have detained several orphanage staff for questioning. The Child Protection and Welfare Bureau has refused to register the orphanage, saying it failed to ensure the safety and supervision of a child placed with a contractor for work.
Bureau chairperson Sarah Ahmad urged police to take legal action against the orphanage owner and asked the Punjab Charities Commission to review its registration and licence. “Every child deserves protection, dignity and safety,” she said. “No orphan should be left at the mercy of those entrusted with their care.”
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