MULTAN, June 15: Nine officials of local courts are likely to be produced before the additional district and sessions judge on Monday (today) on a habeas corpus petition filed against their ‘illegal’ detention.

The officials have been in the police custody for the past several days after missing of Rs1 million from the lockers of district courts on June 5 last. The officials are: Ibrahim, Abdul Sattar, Allah Ditta, Shabbir Shah, Zahid Hussain Shah, Muhammad Ijaz, Muhammad Shabbir, Haji Allah Ditta and Mirza Kamal Beg.

According to treasurer Ibraheem, he drew Rs1.003 million under the head of contingency from the local Sate Bank on June 4 last and put the amount in the locker of his office room. But, the next day the whole amount was missing.

Cheliak police had registered a case on the orders of senior civil judge Sharif Janjua under section 454 and 380 PPC against unidentified thieves. But, the police picked up nine officials for interrogation allegedly without formally recording their arrests.

Sources in the local judiciary said some of the high-ups had not been satisfied with the ‘interrogation’ of the Cheliak police, and therefore the detained officials were handed over to the Makhdoom Rasheed police, who were infamous for their third-degree tactics to make the accused ‘confess’ to their sin.

Coordinator of the Multan task force of Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, Rashid Rehman, filed a petition in court for the recovery of the nine officials from the ‘illegal’ custody of the Makhdoom Rasheed police. Besides, he also urged court to order medical examination of the detenus.

Instead of designating a bailiff to raid the police station, the judge however directed the police to produce before him the detained officials on June 16. The judge also passed no direction against the plea for their medical examination.

Additional district and sessions judge Falak Sher Farooqa is heading a judicial/departmental probe into the missing of the amount. It is learnt that the missing amount had been transferred to the account of Multan district courts as an instalment from the Asian Development Bank’s loan advanced for the project “Access to Justice”.