Barkhan triple murders: Judicial magistrate grants bail to Sardar Khetran

A judicial magistrate in Rakhni on Friday approved the bail plea of Balochistan Communications and Works Minister Sardar Abdul Rehman Khetran in the Barkhan killings case.

Rakhni is a town and union council of Barkhan District.

The grisly murders and subsequent discovery of corpses from a well of three people — a woman and two young men — in a remote Balochistan district triggered protests and highlighted the inhumanity of illegal prisons. The victims were said to be captives since 2019 in an illegal prison allegedly run by Khetran, a prominent leader of the government aligned-Balochistan Awami Party.

Session Judge Malik Sujhao Din heard today’s case and approved Khetran’s bail on surety bonds of Rs500,000 citing “lack of evidence”.

Speaking to the media after the hearing, Khetran’s lawyer Advocate Manzoor Rehmani said no charges were proved against his client.

Last month, a judicial magistrate had granted Quetta Police a 10-day physical remand of Khetran, who was arrested a day earlier on suspicion of his involvement in the triple murder.

When the bullet-riddled bodies of the woman and two men were found in a well near the minister’s residence in the Barkhan area, the police initially identified them as Granaz, wife of Khan Muhammad Marri, and her two sons.

At the time, Marri said the corpses were of his wife and sons, alleging that they were held in Khetran’s private jail. He added that more of his children, including a daughter, were captives.

Subsequently, Granaz was recovered along with her 17-year-old daughter Farzana and son. Two other sons were recovered from Kohlu.

The woman is still unidentified.

The Barkhan triple murder saga saw dramatic twists after police arrested the provincial minister.

Victims tortured, sexually abused

Later a police surgeon who conducted a medical check-up of Granaz and her five children had said that evidence showed the woman’s teenage daughter was not only tortured but was also sexually abused.

The surgeon, Dr Ayesha Faiz of Civil Hospital Quetta, had said torture marks had been found on the body of the 17-year-old girl and she was also burnt with a cigarette.

“The evidence of sexual abuse with the girl was also found in the examination,” she had said, adding that her mother, Granaz, was also physically tortured as marks were found on her body.

Dr Faiz disclosed that the sons of Marri had also complained that they were sexually abused during confinement, but no evidence was found of sexual abuse with the boys in the recent past.

‘Small rooms’

In a video message released on Sunday, Granaz narrated her ordeal, recalling that the family was subjected to torture, kept separately in small rooms and weren’t allowed to meet with each other.

“It was a horrible experience that we can’t forget,” Granaz said. Her two teenage sons also narrated what happened to them while in captivity.

Granaz claimed that she was put in the private jail of Khetran. “We were tortured badly and kept separately in small rooms,” she said. “My six sons were not allowed to meet me.”

Marri had also been saying for the last two years that his wife and children were illegally detained, sexually abused and tortured by Khetran and his men in the private jail in Barkhan since 2019.

Their 15-year-old son said in the video, “We spent most of the time in Barkhan. Sardar Abdul Rehman Khetran brought us to Quetta in tight security and kept us in his house.”

He said the minister handed over some family members to a man who took them to Duki and kept them in a hideout. However, just before security officials raided the place and recovered them, the man who was keeping an eye on the family disappeared and left them alone.

Marri’s other son, an 11-year-old, also narrated his story, recalling that they were forced to work for the minister and subjected to torture. “The brothers were kept in different rooms and were not allowed to meet our mother,” he said.

Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that a judicial magistrate in Quetta suspended Imran Khan’s arrest warrants. The error is regretted.