BAHAWALNAGAR: Scores of residents of Basti Landipura staged a protest demo on Sunday against Minchinabad police alleging the station house officer and deputy superintendent of police were favouring an influential landlord who got a man murdered for pursuing a criminal case against him.

The protesters gathered on a road led by the family members of the victim, Jahangir Gujjar, a resident of Basti Landipura, who was allegedly shot dead two months ago at the behest of landlord Azhar for pursuing a case registered against him.

Jahangir’s brother Hafiz Saddam, who was among the protesters, said that the victim was an eyewitness in a case (FIR NO 246/20) lodged against a local landlord Azhar and his five guards on May 6 under section 506-b of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) for harassing a petrol pump owner with arms.

He said after Azhar’s arrest, the police gave him VIP protocol even when he was presented before a court. Punjab police inspector general took notice of a video clip of Azhar in police custody that led to suspension of two police officials on May 16 for VIP treatment to the suspect.

He said Azhar despite being in police custody threatened to kill Jahangir if he did not stop pursuing the case. He said that the police were informed of the threats but to no avail.

He alleged that on May 11, Jahangir was murdered at the behest of Azhar.

The victim’s family said that even after the murder of Jahangir, the attitude of the police did not change. They alleged that landlord’s cousin Tayyab, who was nominated in the murder FIR (No 256/20) was roaming freely without bail even 35 days after the registration of the FIR.

They accused Minchinabad police SHO Razzaq Ahmed of making excuses instead of arresting Tayyab. Similarly, they alleged that another suspect, Ahmed, was also being protected by the landlord and the police had failed to arrest him as well.

They said the police released Azhar on June 29 and he was again hurling life threats at the victim’s relatives for pursuing the murder case, while the SHO claimed he was “temporarily” released so that he could handover the other suspects to police.

They said the SHO was pressurizing them for reconciliation with the suspects.

The family said they had repeatedly filed written complaints with district police officer (DPO) but the matter was referred to Minchinabad deputy superintendent of police (DSP) who never called them or the suspects for an inquiry.

According to the victim’s family, the case was not being investigated on merit. They alleged that the police were heavily bribed and trying to save the suspects.

They demanded the Punjab IG to hand over the investigation of the case to an “honest” officer and order a departmental inquiry against the police officials who were “favouring the suspects”.

Minchinabad SHO Razzaq admitted the police failed to arrest the suspects so far. He also admitted that he had released the prime suspect in the murder case, Azhar, when he “assured the police he would hand over the other suspects to police if he was released”.

DSP Ali Raza Shah did not respond to the texts messages and calls by this scribe for his stance, while DPO’s public relations officer claimed the matter was being investigated.

Published in Dawn, July 13th, 2020