FAISALABAD, Sept 23: The investigation police teams, headed by SP Abdullah Khalid, had introduced novel strategies and converted the mastermind of the motor registration scandal, Excise and Taxation Officer Farman Masood, as a complainant of another case to get bribe from vehicle owners.

The latest information this correspondent has gleaned reveals so and also the fact that the police officials had arrested 14 excise officials, including ETO Farman Masood and clerk Asim Yousaf, on June 4, 2004, and registered cases against them under sections 467, 468, 471, 420, 401, 400, 109 and 409 of PPC with the Civil Lines police station.

Farman, the head of the motor branch, was interrogated by several police investigation officials, including SP Abdullah Khalid. But in a surprising move, he was made a complainant of a case No 340/04 under section 420 and 468 of PPC registered against Abdul Waheed, a resident of Gujranwala, for presenting bogus documents to transfer his car.

Sources told Dawn that the investigation of the major scam was in progress and the police had taken into custody hundreds of files pertaining to the registration of books on fake documents.

In this scenario, they said, the registration of the case on the complaint of the mastermind of the scam was nothing but to provide him a loophole and extort money from the people.

Sources further said the then investigators had forcibly obtained over 100 applications signed by excise officials, including Farman Masood, against various vehicle owners so that the private people could be rounded up and their vehicles seized.

“Those who greased the palms of the police officials were allowed to move freely, but others were made accused in 49 different cases,” revealed the sources.