October 12, 2007	Friday	Ramazan 29, 1428

KOHAT, Oct 11: The Punjab police have ‘illegally’ taken away from Kohat a man and his son in place of his brother, who has been accused of fraud by a tile company, according to sources.

Ms Shabeena had filed a habeas corpus petition in the Peshawar High Court through barrister Syed Masud Kausar, accusing the Kohat DIG, DPO and ASP of illegally arresting her husband, Mr Zahid, and handing him over to the Punjab police, said the sources.

The court issued notices to the Kohat police officers to explain why had they illegally raided a house and handed over the relatives of the accused to the Punjab police.

She alleged that her husband was now in the illegal custody of his brother’s employer, Mr Ajmal, and demanded his immediate release.

The counsel for the petitioner told Dawn on Thursday that the Kohat police had cooperated with the Punjab police in the action of handing over the arrested people to the company, violating the law.

He said that even if police of one district wanted to take into custody a person of another district, they needed to get permission from police of that area and fulfil other legal requirements.

In this case, he said, a police party from Punjab had taken away Mr Zahid and Mr Aslam, the father-in-law of the accused, in connivance with the Kohat police.

He said the raiding police party had no woman and, without having arrest warrants, had taken away the two people who were not nominated in the case.

In the FIR registered in the Gujranwala district, Mr Jamal, working in the Kabul office of the Master Tiles Company, has been charged with embezzling Rs9.7 million.