BAHAWALNAGAR: Residents of the Shahbazpur area of Minchinabad held a protest against the police for allegedly changing an incident of robbery into theft and returned the vehicle used in the incident to the suspect.

The protesters demanded the Punjab inspector general of police (IGP) take notice of the matter, launch a probe and take action against the officials involved.

The robbery victim, Imran, along with residents of the area, said that on Jan 17 at 3am, three masked armed men made him hostage at his outhouse and took away his three goats worth Rs90,000 in a car.

They said after a call at 15, the Minchinabad police found the car parked on the road a few kilometers from his outhouse. The former SHO Aslam Dhuddi told them the police had found identity cards of the robbers, Rs5,000 cash, mobile phones and other belongings from the car.

They alleged that Mr Dhuddi, instead of lodging the FIR, told them to wait as the police were about to apprehend the robbers, after which the FIR would be registered.

On Jan 20, when they went to the police station, the car was nowhere in sight and on their insistence, the SHO told them the car was stolen and was handed over to its real owner. They said that on the same day, the police registered their FIR but did not mention key details such as the car was used in the crime and also lodged a case of theft instead of robbery.

According to sources, a three-member gang from district Sahiwal, consisting Shaukat, Mushtaq and Niaz, was involved in the robbery. The police got the details when the robbers left the car in a hurry and recovered the identity cards of the gang members along with cash, arms and mobile phones. After which, the sources said, Minchinabad police contacted Dera Raheem police in district Sahiwal where they found the complete criminal history of the gang.

The sources revealed that on Jan 17 (the day of the robbery), the Minchinabad police raided Chak 113/9-L and Chak 112/9-L to arrest the gang members, including Niaz, after which they got in contact with gang leader Shaukat.

The sources alleged that after striking a ‘deal’ with Shaukat, the police changed the case from a robbery to theft and the car used in the incident was sent to a separate location..

The sources revealed that during the raids, gang member Niaz was arrested and he was shifted to the outhouse of a politically influential person for interrogation instead of the police station which was often used as a torture cell by police.

The sources added that if a deal was struck with Niaz and Mushtaq, they would be handed over to the Dera Raheem police, otherwise they would be nominated in another case of robbery and their arrest would be showcased as the performance of the police.

Dera Raheem Police SHO Ashraf Gujjar said the Minchinabad police had contacted them and conducted raids on Jan 17 and Jan 31. However, he was unaware of arrests made by the Minchinabad police during those raids.

Investigating Officer ASI Saleem said he was looking at the matter as a case of theft until now because he could not go to the scene of the crime when it happened he did not know it was a case of robbery.

Acting SHO Kashif Kamran was not available for the comment.

Taking to Dawn, Minchinabad DSP Ali Raza showed ignorance of the matter and expressed surprise why a theft case was registered. He, however, added that the robbers in a black car had also robbed a utility store on Jan 17.

Ali claimed raids were being carried out in the limits of the Dera Raheem Police Station but no arrest was made in this connection yet. He admitted the car used in the robbery was not in the police station but he added that the car was with the police.

Published in Dawn, February 7th, 2020