GUJRAT, Feb 9: Five witnesses in favour of an alleged human trafficker, who is the principal accused in a case of stabbing two of his clients , had recorded two different statements with the DSP (Headquarters) during the case investigation in the Lalamusa city police station on Monday.

Rizwan with the help of Shahzad, Farhan and three others had stormed the residence of journalist Wajahat Ijza in Karimpura, Lalamusa, on Saturday evening and injured his two cousins, Haider Ali and Nasrullah, over a money dispute. The accused took Rs 600,000 from Haider and Nasrullah but failed to send them abroad.

Lalamusa city police registered a case against three nominated and as many unidentified persons and arrested Rizwan and Shahzad but did not bring their arrest on record.

The alleged trafficker is said to have backing of a former chairman of the Lalamusa municipality and some traders who wanted police to quash the FIR. Due to their pressure, DSP Mehmoodul Hasan Qureshi had summoned both the complainant and the accused parties to the Lalamusa city police station for investigation.

Accused Rizwan gave the statement that he remained at his shop from 11 am to 11 pm and was not involved in the attack. To prove his innocence and to substantiate his claim, he presented before the investigator five witnesses.

First witness Imran said that he and another friend Shafiq were present at Rizwan's bakery from 5 pm to 7:30 pm where Rizwan was also present. Second witness Shafiq seconded Imran.

However, the statement was changed when Rizwan presented three more witnesses in his favour. Witness Faisal claimed that he, Rizwan and another two friends Amir and Tariq Bhatti were present at his medical store from 5:15 pm to 7 pm. Amir and Tariq, other witnesses, also second Faisal.

Meanwhile, Haider Ali, Nasrullah, Saad Abdullah, Ghazanfar and Saleem Baig, nominated eye-witnesses for the aggrieved party, recognized accused Rizwan and Shahzad.

Seven other eye-witnesses of Karimpura locality also gave statements in favour of the complainants and some of them informed the DSP that they had seen Rizwan and accomplices fleeing after committing the crime.

A police source said that some area politicians had been pressing the police to bail out the accused. He said the police had not kept the accused in lock-up. The office-bearers of Gujrat Press Club have, meanwhile, threatened to come out in protest if the police did not bring the arrests on record and arrested the absconding accused.