PESHAWAR, March 19: The Peshawar High Court on Tuesday summoned high-ranking police officers, including a Senior Superintendent of Police, Superintendent of Police, Assistant Superintendent of Police and a Deputy Superintendent of Police, after a Station House Officer conceded that the police seized household items from a residence illegally on the directives of his superior officers.

The SHO, Umar Farooq, who had previously served in Pishtakhara police station, admitted before a division bench that he had no other option because if he had not obeyed orders of his high-ups he would have been suspended.

The bench, comprising Justice Khalida Rachied and Justice Abdur Rauf Lughmani, was hearing a writ petition filed by a resident of Pishtakhara, Peshawar, stating that in a raid by the local police on April 27, 2000, they had taken away all the household goods, including TV sets, refrigerator, jewellery, cash, sofa sets, airconditioners, etc.

During previous hearing on March 7, the court had taken exception to the highhandedness of local police and had summoned the SHO, Fareed Bangash. However, Mr Bangash had told the bench that at the time of raid he was not the SHO of that station. Following his statement, the court had summoned all the SHOs who had functioned in the said station after March 27.

On Tuesday, about six SHOs appeared before the court. The then SHO, Umar Farooq, faced a hard time in convincing the court that his act was due to compulsion.

He recorded his statement in which he blamed high-ranking police officers for the entire raid at the residence of the petitioner.

He claimed that the petitioner’s father, Rasool Khan, was wanted in a dacoity case.

He said he was not alone during that raid and in fact the total number of cops were more than 200. He recalled that the then SSP Peshawar, Malik Saad, the SP (Urban), Rehmat Khan, ASP Mohammad Ali Babakhel and DSP Gul Afzal Khan were heading the operation.

On his statement, the court has summoned all the four officers for next date, which would be fixed by the court later. The court also directed the police to return the seized goods to the petitioner.

It may be mentioned that the said SSP, Malik Saad and DSP Gul Afzal, were also charged in a fake police encounter and an FIR was registered against them by the Crimes Branch police. However, the Supreme Court stayed any proceedings against Mr Afzal, whereas the high court stayed proceedings against Malik Saad.