KARACHI, July 9: Lyari police registered one FIR about theft of five motorcycles instead of registering separate reports for each of the incidents.

One of the motorcycles, mentioned in the FIR, has been snatched at gunpoint on April 6 from Soldier Bazaar police limits, but the police station concerned showed reluctance to register the case.

Legal experts and senior police officers say that according to the Pakistan Penal Code and the Criminal Procedure Code, owner of each vehicle has to lodge a separate FIR for its theft or snatching or going missing.

Kalakot police registered an FIR, 186/06, on June 28 on the complaint of one, Khalil Murad, stating that the complainant along with his four friends parked their motorcycles on Tannery Road from where these vehicles were stolen. However, the complainant was shocked to hear the contents of the FIR and said that he did not know the four persons mentioned in the FIR as his ‘friends’.

According to the FIR, one complaint was received through regular mail on June 28 and the case was registered at 3am without any delay.

The incident date was mentioned as June 2. In the complaint, Khalil Murad stated that he was a carpenter and a resident of Pak Colony. He, along with his friends, Mohammad Ashraf, Mohammad Danish, Mohammad Kaleem and Mohammad Irfan, was passing through Sheedi Village Road near Aath Chowk at 11:30pm.

Each one was driving his own motorcycle. All of a sudden, some 100-150 people on motorcycles emerged on Tannery Road and other people ran helter-skelter.

They (five friends) also left the locality after parking their motorbikes on Sheedi Village Road. When they returned, the motorbikes were missing.

However, Khalil Murad disputed contents of the FIR, saying that he had gone to the police station many a times to lodge the FIR but the police on lame excuses avoided to register the case. He insisted that nobody was accompanying him when parked and lost his motorbike (KBP-7793).

He said that the procession of motorcycles did appear when he parked his vehicle and left the area.

On returned, he found the bike missing, said, adding that the same night, he had gone to lodge a report at the Kalakot police station but the police did not register the case.

Four other motorcycles shown in the FIR are LOD-6857, KBQ-4262, KAX-3002, and LZ-8441. The motorcycle with KAX-4262 number plate, was snatched at gunpoint from Soldier Bazaar on April 6 this year at 10pm from Mohammad Waseem.

The police diary (roznamcha) showed a complaint (No.003051/2006) registered by the Soldier Bazaar police, which did not register an FIR in a bid to show less crime in their jurisdiction.

Sources in the police department said that it was the routine practice by police officials that they mostly avoided to register FIRs as the number of FIRs would reflect the higher magnitude of crime incidents in a particular police station.

Legal experts and the legal officers in the police department said that a motorbike shown as snatched at gunpoint and again stolen from two separate areas would create legal hurdles when the case would go to a court.

They said that the Soldier Bazaar police were also responsible for delay in the registration the FIR and a stern action against responsible official could be taken with a view to check continued negligence on the part of police.

When the matter was brought to the Lyari town police officer Omar Shahid, he said that an inquiry into the matter had been instituted. He said that the SHO, Zahid Hussain, had already been removed from his post.

The action, he said, had been taken on complaints that the SHO did not cooperate with complainants and, instead was involved in wrongdoings. “We are probing the allegations against the SHO and will recommend stern action against him if the charges were proved,” the TPO Lyari added.