Barkhan incident: Bail granted to Balochistan minister Abdul Rehman Khetran

QUETTA: A sessions court in Quetta on Friday approved the bail of Balochistan Minister for Construction and Communications Sardar Abdul Rehman Khetran — one of the suspects in the case registered for the gruesome murder of three people whose bullet-riddled bodies were found in a well in the Barkhan district.

The court approved the bail of the provincial minister against surety bonds of Rs1 million.

Last month, the court had granted police's crime branch a 10-day physical remand of the Balochistan minister.

Khetran was brought to the court amid tight security. He made a victory sign before being produced before the court. The suspect was produced before the court of Judicial Magistrate Sameena Nasreen.

The gruesome Barkhan incident took place days after a video of a woman with the Holy Quran in her hands was released on social media. In the video, the woman had claimed that she and her children were detained by Khetran. She pleaded with the people to get her and her children freed.

Initially, Khan Muhammad Marri, a resident of Kohlu, claimed that the deceased are his wife and two sons. He then went on the allege: “Five slaves are still in the possession of Sardar Abdul Rehman.”

The triple murder saga took a dramatic twist, when a police surgeon, after the post-mortem examination of the bodies, revealed that one of the deceased was a 17 to 18-year-old female. She said that the deceased was raped and tortured before being shot dead.

The medico-legal officer said that the autopsy finds that the girl was shot thrice in the head and her face and neck were mutilated with acid to hide her identity. She said that the girl may not be Giran Naz but her daughter.

Moreover, the other two were also tortured before being killed, she added.

Family recovered

On February 22, Levies personnel recovered Marri’s wife Giran Naz — who had been presumed dead — and their five children including a girl, allegedly abducted by Khetran. The operation was conducted in light of Khan Muhammad's allegations.

During the search operations, Naz along with her children Farzana, Abdul Majeed, Abdul Ghaffar, Imran, and Abdul Sattar was recovered, the Levies officials said.

The force took action in the areas of Kohlu, Dakki, Barkhan and Dera Bugti as Khan Muhammad Marri's family was held hostage at different locations.