ISLAMABAD: Eight police officials, including three former SHOs, were suspended after they were found guilty of faulty investigations in a murder case, the police said on Saturday.

The officials allegedly favoured two suspects in the murder case leading to their acquittal.

An inquiry conducted into the allegation found the officials, including three former SHOs of the Ramna police – Inspectors Jamshaid Khan, Mian Ashraf and Haider Ali – guilty. The other officials were investigation officers SI Yasin Bhutta, Nawaz Gondal, Zulfiqar, Waheed and ASI Qurban. In 2014, a citizen registered a case with the Sihala police about the abduction of his daughter.

The police arrested a man and his father after which the accused produced a marriage certificate, claiming that the man had married the woman after she eloped with him.

In response, the case was quashed, the police said, adding later the woman was found murdered in a house at G-10 and the police again arrested the man along with his father and mother.

The trial court later awarded capital punishment to the man while his parents were acquitted.

The victim’s father approached the police high-ups and lodged a complaint, alleging that the investigators had favoured the two accused resulting in their acquittal, As a result, an opinion was sought from the legal branch of the police which said the police had failed to conduct a proper investigation resulting in the acquittal of the two accused.

A former superintendent of the police Saddar was directed to probe the matter who also found faults in the investigation and said the police had overlooked the evidence.

On the day of the murder, the man’s father was present in the house and left for Dubai after two days. But he had tampered his passport and the visa to show his presence in Dubai on the day of the murder.

The investigators, however, failed to seize the passport of the man to examine and prove that it had been tampered with.

Published in Dawn, July 31st, 2016