FAISALABAD: The Mamunkanjan station house officer (SHO) allegedly gunned down two suspected robbers in an encounter and got prize money worth Rs120,000 from applicant of a robbery-murder case.

He, however, had to return the money after the aggrieved said the slain were not the real culprits. The main culprits, he claimed, had been charged with petty crimes by SHO Rana Akram.

City Police Officer (CPO) Dr Haider Ashraf said the senior superintendent of police (operations) and CIA superintendent of police had been asked to probe the issue.

Talking to Dawn, complainant Zafar Iqbal said robbers had looted the house of his cousin Altaf in Chak 193-GB on Nov 19. During resistance, the suspects had killed Altaf’s brother Zafar and escaped. A few hours later, police arrested Asif, a resident of the same village, and did not contact the aggrieved after that.

Iqbal said on Nov 27, the SHO had gunned down two men in an alleged encounter. He called in Altaf to the police station and demanded Rs120,000 as prize money for ‘punishing’ the robbers.

The SHO also got signatures of Altaf, a semi-literate man, on a document in which he mentioned Hameed, Altaf’s brother, as a witness who according to the document had identified bodies of the shot down criminals.

However, the complainant said Hameed was in Saudi Arabia since Nov 21, while the SHO had shown him being present here on Nov 27.

According to the police, some men in a car opened fire on cops at 3:50am on Nov 27 in Chak 511-GB, Muridwala, when they were signalled to stop at a picket. During crossfire, two people were killed while their three accomplices managed to escape. The men that were gunned down in this ‘encounter’ had been later identified as Nasir and Saqlain Shah.

Iqbal said when they found out that wrong culprits had been gunned down they asked the SHO to return their “prize money”. He claimed the accused SHO returned Rs100,000 and threatened them to stay quiet or face dire consequences. “We kept approaching police officers for action against the accused SHO, but to no avail,” he added.

The real culprits had been charged under minor sections of the PPC rather than murder and robbery sections. Iqbal said bringing the issue to the notice of the CPO had created a difficult situation for them as the SHO had arrested him on March 28 over a quarrel and kept him behind bars for five days. He said during the detention, the SHO kept pressurising him to withdraw application against him, “but I refused”.

“The SHO said we have tarnished his image by submitting an application against him and we will face the music,” Iqbal claimed.

Inquiry into the issue is pending with the police for around two months. It seems the police don’t want to penalise the accused policeman, he added.

The CPO said a judicial inquiry into the case had also been requested. He said further action would be taken against the accused in light of the department and judicial inquiries.