A preliminary postmortem report has described the deaths of two women in Lahore police custody as natural, with police sources saying both suffered heart attacks.

The women, identified as 17-and-a-half-year-old Amina and 22-year-old Anmol, were arrested on August 4 on charges of theft and fraud. They died at a police station the same day.

According to police sources, the preliminary postmortem found no visible signs of torture on either woman. The report attributed their deaths to cardiac arrest.

The development comes amid conflicting claims over the circumstances surrounding the deaths.

According to an FIR registered on August 4, the two women had allegedly entered a complainant’s house while seeking alms and asked for water.

The FIR said they later claimed they could perform spiritual healing.

The complainant alleged that the women took gold earrings and Rs5,000 from his sister. He said the women returned the earrings after he arrived but refused to return the money, following which a dispute broke out and they allegedly tore their clothes.

Police were subsequently called through Rescue 15 and the women were handed over to them, according to the FIR.

The case was registered under Sections 379 and 420 of the Pakistan Penal Code, relating to theft and cheating.

The deaths triggered controversy after the women’s families alleged that they had died due to severe torture in police custody.

Lahore police officials, including DIG Operations Faisal Kamran, denied the allegations. Police had earlier claimed that the women were drug addicts and suggested that an overdose could have caused their deaths.

The families rejected the claim.

Saqlain, Anmol’s husband and Amina’s brother, alleged that when he saw the bodies, their clothes were torn and there were apparent marks of violence on their faces and backs.

Zainab Bibi, Amina’s mother and Anmol’s mother-in-law, also claimed that she had seen CCTV footage from the police station showing the women appearing to be unharmed.

She rejected the police claim that the women had been beaten by people in the neighbourhood.

She said the women could not have been intoxicated as claimed because they appeared to be speaking normally with a police officer in the footage.

Following the conflicting claims, a judicial inquiry into the deaths was formally launched on the orders of the district and sessions judge in Lahore.

Under the law, a judicial inquiry is mandatory when an accused person dies in police custody, with the inquiry report required to be issued within 30 days.

Police officials said strict legal action would be taken against those responsible if the judicial inquiry or forensic reports establish that the women were subjected to police torture.

The families, meanwhile, have complained that they have not yet been formally provided with copies of the postmortem reports.