A 2009 model Toyota Corolla may worth Rs1.5 to Rs1.8 million. But a car of the same make once owned by a judge of the lower courts in Islamabad cost the life of a constable and over Rs10 million.

This has been revealed during the interrogation of six people arrested by the Islamabad police’s Anti-Car Lifting Cell. Officials in the ACLC told Dawn that the Toyota Corolla owned by Shahid Shafiq, the special judge of the Banking Court Islamabad, was stolen on July 16, 2013, from the Industrial Area police limits.
Later, some people contacted the judge from Karak in KP and asked him to pay a ransom if he wanted the vehicle back. After negotiations, the amount was settled at Rs300,000. The judge’s gunman, constable Ghulam Farid, was then sent to Karak in the first week of August 2013 to pay the ransom and bring the vehicle back. The constable reached Bannu where two officials of the KP police joined him for his security on the request of the Islamabad police. The three officials reached Karak and met the people who held the car. But the culprits snatched the amount from the constable and detained all the three men in the basement of a building. The capital police constable was subjected to severe torture due to which he died a few days later on August 8.

The two other policemen from Bannu were detained in the building for another month and later freed after their relatives paid a ransom of Rs5 million for each of them, the ACLC officials added. A case was registered against the culprits under the charges of murder and kidnapping for ransom with the Karak police. The KP police traced two members of the gang a few months ago after they detained two persons sent to pay them ransom to release another kidnap victim. During the interrogation, the suspects confessed to their involvement in the auto-theft and constable’s killing case and also disclosed the identification and whereabouts of their accomplices. Later, four of them were arrested one after the other and brought to the capital for further investigations. The ACLC officials confirmed that so far six members of the gang had been arrested and were being interrogated. A police team is still in the KP under the supervision of ASI Manzoor Elahi and is conducting raids to arrest the gang members.

During the interrogation, the arrested men alleged that a former MPA of the KP assembly was patronising the gang involved in the auto-theft and kidnapping for ransom, the ACLC officials said. It also emerged that the vehicles and kidnap victims were kept and detained in the Hujras and other buildings of the MPA.

The engines and chassis numbers of the vehicles were tampered with before putting them on sale in the buildings or transported to other areas, the ACLC officials said. The kidnapping for ransom victims were also detained there till the ransom amount was paid. The arrested men also said the stolen car of the judge was still under the use of the MPA’s son.

Investigation officer of the case Manzoor Elahi confirmed to Dawn that six members of the gang, allegedly patronised by the former MPA, had been arrested on the charges of killing the police official, stealing the judge’s car and kidnapping for ransom.

About the alleged involvement of the legislator in the crime, a police officer added that in 2011 the capital police had sought the help of the then Khyber Pakhtunkhwa governor in the arrest of criminals involved in the auto-thefts who were allegedly enjoying the support of the provincial police and some legislators. However, he added, the reply was still awaited.

He said in May 2011, the KP governor’s office started taking interest in the investigation into the theft of a Toyota Altis from Sector F-11/1, as the owner of the vehicle was a close relative of the governor. On frequent approaches to the capital police, a senior officer of the police met the personal staff officer (PSO) to the governor in the last week of May 2011 and complained that the gang of car lifters, receivers and purchasers were operating from KP in connivance with the provincial police and also enjoying the support of some legislators. The officer also handed him a list of most wanted criminals, including some two dozen thieves and receivers of stolen vehicles operating in the province.

The officer complained that some officers of the KP police were helping the car receivers and whenever the capital police went to the province to catch them, they (KP police) tipped them off. Besides, the officer also disclosed the names of the members of the national and province assemblies who were allegedly behind the criminals.

Published in Dawn, February 9th, 2015

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