MULTAN, March 28: The district police are allegedly going to great pains to let a gangster off the hook in order to secure the goodwill of an influential figure alleged to be the man behind the culprit.

Hardly a few days ago, March 17 to be precise, District Police Officer Muhammad Nawaz Warraich claimed at a press conference that police had arrested Shahid Ishaq gang involved in a number of robbery incidents.

The DPO dubbed the gang as unique for one of its members was Basri alias Saima, a girl in her teens who belongs to Muzaffargarh district. Also part of the gang was Riaz Husain Shah, a resident of People’s Colony’s Abu Bakar Street (Multan) who, according to the DPO, not only financially supported the robbers but also facilitated them with vehicles and shelter. He said Riaz Shah provided his house as well as factory to the gang to hide the booty.

The DPO said the gang confessed to committing nine robberies, and five cases had been registered against it with various police stations. The police, he claimed, recovered vehicles, mobile phones, a water pump and weapons from the gangsters.

Malik Fiazul Hasan Bhutta, of Soraj Kond Road, had lodged an FIR 86/08 (under Section 395 of PPC) with the Mumtazabad police station on Feb 26, stating that five armed men drove away with his car (MNA-694) after holding him up. However, the police got a clue to the vehicle through the trekker company and recovered it from Riaz Shah’s house.

The police apprehended Sadia, the wife of Riaz Shah, and Basri, who is the spouse of co-accused Ramzan. The police, however, released Sadia – the second wife of Riaz, who is the brother of Jhok Lashkarpur 18 Kasi Union Council Nazim Ejaz Husain Shah, Bhutta alleged.

He said the police found through initial investigation Riaz Husain Shah, Shahid Ishaq, Ramzan, Azkaar alias Zakki, Shahbaz alias Waddu and Amin Khan alias Mino involved in the incident, alleging that now they were trying to save Riaz Shah who enjoys the blessings of an influential person.

Shahbaz and Azkaar, two of the suspects, had confirmed to the police that Riaz was the chief suspect, the complainant said, but the police were ignoring their statements and entertaining the version of Riaz who has been pleading not guilty.

The law enforcers, he alleged, were reluctant to send Riaz on judicial remand and were instead extending him ‘VIP treatment’ in various police stations on the pretext of quizzing him. He said the Section 395 of PPC prohibits bail of an accused, but the police had managed to secure him bail from court in the FIR 66/08 lodged by the Mumtazabad police station.

Sub-Inspector Bashir Ahmad, who is the investigation officer, told Dawn the police couldn’t ignore the statement of Riaz Shah and were not sending him behind bars because they were going into the details of several other cases he had been nominated in.