KARACHI, Aug 15: The provincial police officer (PPO), Sindh, has ordered an inquiry into the affairs of the Anti-Car Lifting Cell (ACLC) which has drawn a total of Rs45 million under the head of “cost of investigation” during the years 2005-06 and 2006-07.
The city police chief has accordingly constituted a committee headed by DIG Administration Khurram Gulzar. SP Niaz Ahmed Khoso and SSP Dr Kamran Fazal are the other members.
The committee has been tasked to ascertain how and where the huge amount was spent despite early disposal of cases as “untraced” by the ACLC.
The committee will also look into the cell’s investigation officers’ practice of disposing of the cases without making serious investigations, a source in the police department said.
Quoting figures in the terms of reference for the inquiry, the source revealed that the percentage of detection was as low as 10 and 19 per cent in 2005-06 and 2006-07, respectively, whereas the funds drawn under the head of cost of investigation were 100 per cent.
The terms of reference suggested that in 2006-07, the cell’s supervision level was so poor that Rs299,000 was drawn by the DDO concerned as cost of investigation over and above the budget allocation of Rs20 million in total violation of financial rules.
An amount of Rs32.63 million was drawn over the two years for undetected cases, the source added.
Directive to reopen cases
The committee has been asked to fix responsibility and identify the responsible supervising and investigation officers who disposed of their assigned cases as untraced without working on them but claimed huge amounts as cost of investigation. Those found responsible would face action under the department’s RSO-2000.
The PPO has directed that the cases disposed of as untraced be reopened and if there was a clue, culprits be arrested and stolen vehicles recovered. He has also asked the city police chief to assign such cases to “competent officers”, and suggested that the DIG Investigation should monitor their performance on a regular basis.
According to sources, the committee has also been asked to put forward its recommendations vis-à-vis the ACLC’s role as a specialised unit.
The officers who have been posted at the ACLC during the two years in question are SSP Bashir Memon, SP Saqib Memon, SSP Muzaffar Shaikh, SSP Abdul Khaliq Shaikh and SSP Dr Sanaullah Abbasi.
The inquiry order has observed that instead of investigating all cases of vehicle theft cases registered at various police stations, the ACLC would focus only on the gangs operating on the inter-district and inter-provincial level.
A senior official maintained that it was not the aim of the inquiry to ascertain whether the funds involved were embezzled, but to find out why the investigations were not conducted properly when the funds were drawn in full. Besides, he said, the probe committee was supposed to redefine the role of ACLC.
However, sources said that the recent moves towards decentralisation of the ACLC through curtailing its powers, restricting its role and reducing its strength were apparently prompted by the cell’s unimpressive performance with regard to detection of cases.
However, experts are of the opinion that the decentralisation of the ACLC may result in a surge in the car theft cases, arguing that detection of vehicle theft has never been a priority at the police station level.
