KARACHI: Nine cops held to force surrender of absconders: Ramaswami gang-rape
By Arman Sabir
KARACHI, April 6: Nine police officials, family members or relatives of the two absconding rapists in Ramaswami gang-rape incident, have been taken into custody for interrogation, Dawnlearnt here on Saturday.
The police, who had first refused to register the case on the complaint of the father of the ill-fated girls, later arrested Ismatullah, a constable posted in Saddar Town, Malik Safeer, a dismissed constable, and Kashif, a laundry shop owner, for their involvement in the ghastly incident.
Their two accomplices, Malik Qamar Iqbal, a constable in the Investigation Wing, and Malik Hasnat Awan, son of Inspector Malik Shabbir Awan, are still at large.
The gang of five had barged into a flat, held the inmates hostage at gunpoint, tied up the owner of the house and his son, and gang-raped his two young daughters before them.
Well-placed sources in the Investigation Wing of the police department said that since the case was transferred to the investigation wing, as per requirement of the new police setup, the police had picked up six relatives of the suspect Malik Qamar Iqbal and three of Malik Hasnat Awan.
The sources said such an action was taken against the serving police officials on the pressure from public and the strong directives from Sindh IG Syed Kamal Shah.
The investigation of the case was entrusted to DSP Athar Rasheed Butt, who picked up Sub-Inspector Malik Hayat, posted at the SP Office in Malir Traffic Section and a tribal head of suspect Malik Iqbal’s village Jabbi in Khushab. Malik Hayat is resident of Block-3, Napier Police Lines. ASI Fateh Khan Awan, posted at Frere Traffic Section and uncle of suspect Malik Qamar Iqbal, was taken into custody at his Quarter No.3, Block-22, Napier Police Lines, for interrogation. Qamar’s another uncle, ASI Malik Mohammad Feroz, posted at the office of DSP Qazi Chand, was picked up at his Quarter No.11, Block-15, Saddar Police Lines.
Similarly, the police took into custody Head Constable Dost Mohammad, posted at Investigation-II (Homicide) Saddar and a cousin of suspect Malik Qamar. Dost Mohammad was picked up at Quarter No 3, Block-12, Brigade Police Lines. Qamar’s another cousin, Constable Sher Afzal, posted at Investigation-II (Homicide) and living in Dost Mohammad’s quarter was also taken into custody. Head Constable Mohammad Iqbal, also first cousin of absconding suspect Malik Qamar Iqbal, was taken into custody at his Quarter No.4, Block-10, Saddar Police Lines. He assured Investigating Officer Athar Rasheed Butt that he would lead the police to arrest Malik Qamar, and later he changed his mind and did not cooperate with the police.
All the six persons, related to absconding suspect Malik Qamar, were taken into custody to trace the whereabouts of the suspect and pressure him into surrendering to the police, the sources said.
The police have also picked up three relatives of the prime suspect, Malik Hasnat Awan, alleged mastermind of the ghastly act. The investigation officer, Athar Rasheed Butt, with his police party raided the house of Mohammad Nazeer, a retired head constable in Clifton police and resident of Shah Rasool Colony. Although there was no relation between Nazeer and Malik Hasnat, Nazeer had given out a room to Hasnat.
The police picked up Constable Tasadduq Hussain, resident of Bachelors’ Barracks, Old South Police Lines, and uncle of Malik Hasnat. The police also picked up Constable Malik Tahir Shabbir, who was studying at Police Training Centre in Saeedabad and younger brother of Malik Hasnat.
ASI Malik Shaukat, posted at Nabi Bux police station, was a cousin of Malik Hasnat. The incident also took place in the jurisdiction of Nabi Bux police station and the police were under the impression that ASI Malik Shaukat had also information about the crime and the whereabouts of Malik Hasnat.
The police raided the Nabi Bux police station on Friday evening, where they came to know that Malik Shaukat was on duty at the police picket at Bismillah Chowk. The police reached the spot to arrest ASI Malik Shaukat, but he had already escaped.
The police raided the house of Malik Shaukat in South Police Lines in Garden. The house was locked from outside and his family had shifted to some unknown place.
The police investigation showed that Malik Yasir and Malik Hasnat were partners in a rent-a-car business. Their shop, Bismillah Motors, is situated at Mona Square on Jahangir Road. Malik Yasir was the brother of Malik Shaukat, who were sons of retired ASI Malik Aslam and first cousins of Malik Hasnat.
The police investigation also showed that Malik Hasnat’s father Inspector Malik Shabbir Awan occupied illegally a minibus terminus of route W-11 at Keamari and was operating it misusing official powers. The police raided the minibus terminus at Keamari, where they came to know that Malik Shabbir Awan and Malik Mumtaz had not come there for the past two days.
The police seized three cars — Nissan Sunny (AA-0021), Mehran (AAL-590) and Khyber (F-6904) — which were in the possession of Malik Hasnat. The Nissan Sunny was in the name of Malik Farooq Awan. Police instigation showed that the full name of Malik Hasnat was Malik Farooq Hasnat Awan. Sometimes he used his name as Malik Farooq Awan and sometimes as Malik Hasnat Awan to conceal his identity from people and police.
The police have sent police parties to Multan and Jabbi for the arrest of Malik Hasnat and Malik Iqbal. The families of the detained persons had also started building pressure on the absconding suspects to surrender before the police, the sources said.
