RAWALPINDI, March 13: The Lahore High Court (LHC) Rawalpindi Bench here on Thursday issued a non-bailable arrest warrants of an additional inspector general of police (AIG) for not appearing in the court in an inquiry into murder case despite repeated summons.

Justice Muhammad Akram Qureshi of the LHC issued the warrants of AIG National Highways and Motorways Police Sultan Azam Taimoori for not appearing in the court as a key witness in the case of murder of a man in the Gujar Khan police custody in 1994.

A police official submitted before the court that the AIG was out of the country and taking a training course in Italy. Mr Taimoori was expected to come back to the country on April 20, the police official told the court.

On this, the judge through a written order issued a fresh non-bailable arrest warrant of the AIG and asked to ensure his presence on April 23 in the court.

A police party of Gujar Khan had arrested a man - Pervaiz Akhtar - in 1994, who was allegedly involved in a robbery. Pervaiz was killed in police custody and an inquiry by a magistrate into his death held the police responsible for it. Mr Taimoori was assistant superintendent police of Gujar Khan at that time.

The police officials allegedly involved in Pervaiz’s death were tried but acquitted and parents of the deceased had moved the LHC against the decision.

Meanwhile in a case of contempt of court, Justice Muhammad Akram Qureshi of the LHC directed an executive engineer of the Pakistan Works and Department (PWD) to appear before the court with a bank cheque worth Rs1.7 million, to be paid to a contractor.

Khalilur Rehman, the private contractor, completed a building project for the PWD 12 years ago (1996), but had not been paid since then. The LHC Rawalpindi Bench in 1999 had decided the case in favour of the contractor and directed the authorities concerned to pay the amount. Despite orders of the court, he was not compensated that brought him in the court with a contempt of court writ petition.