May 04, 2008	Sunday	Rabi-us-Sani 27, 1429

LAYYAH, May 3: The in-charge of utility store in Adda Hafizabad locality on Layyah-Kot Addu Road, some 16 kilometres away from here, along with his two accomplices was caught while stealing grocery items worth over Rs50,000 from the store on Thursday night hours after he had been transferred to Muzaffargarh during the day.

The Kot Sultan police kept Sajid Rafi and his accomplices in custody for around 14 hours but later released them on Friday afternoon allegedly after accepting gratification.

However, the police denied the allegation and said that they were released only after area manager of the Utility Stores Corporation (USC), Amjad Pervaiz, exonerated Rafi and that since the USC was a federal government body, the local police had no authority to take cognisance of the case and the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) alone had such an authority.

Rafi’s transfer came in the face of several complaints filed by locals and MPA Ejaz Ahmad Achlana of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz vigorously pursued these complaints till he was transferred to Muzaffargarh.

Rafi and his accomplices were loading grocery and other edibles on a private pickup van during the night between Thursday and Friday at around 1:30am on which eyewitnesses informed MPA Ejaz, who moved the police which rushed to the scene and apprehended the utility store in-charge along with his unidentified accomplices and the pickup driver and seized all the stolen goods.

However, the police released all of them on Friday allegedly after accepting huge sums of money beside grocery, household items and edibles as gratification.

When contacted, Sadar DSP Mian Tanveer Ahmed maintained that the police had not registered a case against the ‘thieves’ after USC Area Manager Amjad Pervaiz informed them in writing that the goods were not being stolen and were indeed being shifted to another store running short of such items.

The DSP added that since the USC was a federal government-run organisation, the local police had no jurisdiction to intervene and the FIA alone could have investigated such an incident.

When contacted, MPA Ejaz Achlana said that he had done his duty by informing the police about the theft and the registration of case against the ‘thieves’ was responsibility of the police.

Zafar Iqbal, Muhammad Hussein, Akhtar Iqbal, Muhammad Asghar and Ghulam Shabbir, all residents of Adda Hafizabad and eyewitness of the incident, told Dawn that the police had released the culprits after accepting heavy amount of cash and almost all the stolen goods as gratification.

USC Area Manager Amjad Pervaiz told Dawn that the items were not being stolen and were in fact being shifted to another store where shortage of such items had taken place.

However, Pervaiz had no answers when he was asked as to why such a shifting was being carried out at midnight and under the ‘supervision’ of an official, who had been transferred a few hours ago.

Locals have urged the USC managing director to conduct an inquiry into the incident and take responsible to task immediately.