RAWALPINDI: Morgah police have booked a former SHO of the Morgah police station, officials of the prosecution branch as well as the court in light of an inquiry conducted into the murder of a businessman, who was killed after abduction in the garrison city in April last year.

The inquiry report said the officials were guilty of submitting a fake challan, tampering and destroying of the evidence in the said case to facilitate the accused party through such tactics.

The officials booked in the FIR include ex-SHO Shahid Gilani, sub-inspectors Waqas Ahmad and Farakh Mehmood, who were leading the investigation.

Besides, Head Constable (HC) Murtaza Hassan, HC Tasawar Hussain, ex-muharar Haq Nawaz, former muharar of mall khana (case property store), and other officers and staffers of the prosecution branch were booked in addition to the court officials. The identity of court officials and the prosecution branch staffers were not revealed in the FIR.

FIR after inquiry implicates former Morgah SHO, prosecution and court officials for submitting fake challan

The charges, however, pertained to providing the benefit to the accused party, preparing fake evidence of the recovery of the murder weapon, tampering with the original receipt of the vehicle, the preparation of a fake challan, and other malpractices committed during the investigation.

After the irregularities emerged in the investigation, an inquiry was conducted by the DSP Investigation Malik Arshad which led to the registration of the criminal case against the police and other officials with the Morgah police on Wednesday. However, no arrests have been made by the police so far.

A businessman, along with his two friends, was kidnapped and murdered by four unidentified kidnappers in Morgah on April 16, 2023.

Farhan Israr, 38, who was dealing in oil/diesel supply to foreign companies, was also working on various projects in Pakistan. He was on way to drop one of his friends in Morgah when he was kidnapped with his two friends and handcuffed before being shot.

The kidnappers afterwards threw him in critical condition outside the Fauji Foundation Hospital in Morgah before fleeing with his vehicle, cash, and cellphones.

At the time, Umair Israr, a resident of Gulistan Colony, had lodged an FIR with the Morgah police stating that he reached the Fauji Foundation Hospital after receiving the information that his brother Farhan Israr had been shot dead on his way to Morgah to drop his friends Mohammad Riaz and Ashbeel Taija in his applied-for Prado. He said his brother was kidnapped by four persons riding a Vigo with a yellow-red flashing security light on its rooftop.

The double cabin forced them to stop. As they stopped, four suspects - three of them in black uniform and the fourth in trouser and shirt - from the Vogo approached the Prado. Two of them were carrying pistols and two were armed with Kalashnikovs.

He said Israr and his friends were threatened and forced to disembark from their vehicle and sit on the backseat of the Vigo while one of the four persons took control of Israr’s Prado.

He said one of the occupants of the Vigo handcuffed Israr and snatched cellphones and Rs17,000 from all of them. The man sitting on the left of Israr then shot Israr in the neck, critically injuring him, the complainant said.

He said in the FIR that on reaching near the Fauji Foundation Hospital, they threw Israr near the hospital gate and pushed his friends on the road before speeding off.

Published in Dawn, February 16th, 2024