GUJRANWALA, Jan 26: The regional police officer (RPO) on Wednesday dismissed 14 policemen, including four inspectors and as many sub-inspectors, and sent a driver on compulsory retirement for their involvement in a staged shootout.

According to a handout, the police had killed Muhammad Tariq, of Gujranwala, in a ‘shootout’ near Motra (Daska) on May 21, 2008.

Tariq’s brother Muhammad Inayat lodged a case against the police while Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry took suo motu notice of the incident and ordered a probe.

The ensuing investigations confirmed that Tariq was killed in a staged shootout on which DIG Tariq Masood Yasin sacked inspectors Riaz Dar, Khalid Mahmood, Javed Hasan and Malik Irfan, sub-inspectors Akhtar, Amjad Khalid, Sajjad Anwar and Muhammad Ilyas, assistant sub-inspector Afzal and constables Sajjad, Shahbaz, Karamat, Farooq and Usman.

The RPO also sent constable/driver Zulfikar on forced retirement.

COPS FLEE COURT: Three police officials, including a station house officer (SHO), booked under the Police Order 2002 for keeping two brothers in illegal custody fled the sessions court after dismissal of their bail plea on Wednesday.

The Ferozewala police kept Tariq and Muneer in custody despite they were not involved in any case.

Their relative, Muhammad Wajid, moved the Lahore High Court against the illegal detention of the siblings.

An LHC bailiff freed the two from custody and the court directed registration of a case against SHO/inspector Muhammad Saeed, sub-inspector Nusrat Ali and ASI Muhammad Iqbal.

The three policemen, however, obtained interim bail from the sessions court. The court dismissed their bail petitions on Wednesday on which they fled despite the presence of police guard.

ARRESTED: The Qila Deedar Singh police claimed on Wednesday to have arrested six members of a gang of robbers and seized looted goods and unlicenced weapons from their possession.

Talking to reporters, City Division SP Rai Ijaz Ahmad said a police party, led by SHO Amir Husain Sandhu, raided a hideout and arrested ringleader Muzammal, alias Shaba, and his accomplices, Sarfaraz Ahmad, Tanvir Ahmad, Muhammad Ashfaq, Bilal Ahmad and Shakeel Ahmad and seized stolen/snatched goods, including wristwatches, cellular phones and motorcycles, and unlicenced weapons from them.

SENTENCED: District and Sessions Judge Kazam Raza Shamsi on Wednesday sentenced a man to life imprisonment on three counts in a kidnap-cum-murder case on Wednesday.

The prosecution said Muhammad Imran kidnapped five-year-old Murad Ali of Wahando, molested him and later strangled him on March 16, 2008. The police arrested the suspect and recovered Ali’s body.