ISLAMABAD, July 12: A judge of the Islamabad High Court on Wednesday issued notices to the city police chief and others associated with him, including his son, to answer the charge by a father that they were instrumental in harassing him for the alleged misdeeds of his son he had disowned.

Justice Mohammad Anwar Khan Kasi directed Inspector General of Police Bani Amin Khan, his son Ali Bani Amin, son-in-law Tahir Baiga, SSP Malik Mohammad Yusuf, SHO Chaudhry Baqir Ali of Shalimar police station, and car dealer Mudassar Naqvi alias Moon Shah to reply to the accusation by the aggrieved father, Arif Tanveer Bhatti, and adjourned the hearing till a date to be fixed by the court's registrar.

Bhatti's counsel Raja Inam Amin Minhas put to the court that the car dealer used his contacts in the Islamabad police to make his client pay for the fake cheques for Rs1.8 million with which his son Aniq ur-Rehman paid for cars sold to him and his brother Attiq ur-Rehman.

But the father had publicly disowned Aniq long ago for his disobedience and bad company, the counsel said, adding that Aniq was friends to Moon Shah against his father's advice.

According to the lawyer, Mr Bhatti received a call from Shah on May 14, 2012 that Aniq had vanished after presenting fake cheques and demanded his production. Mr Bhatti reported the matter to SHO Lohi Bhair police station and on his indulgence the matter stood resolved.

Three weeks later, on June 23, while Mr Bhatti was outside the house of his elder son Attiq, in sector G-8/2, ASI Malik Mohammad Mumtaz appeared there and arrested him and locked up him at Shalimar Police Station in sector F-10, the lawyer said.

When Mr Bhatti protested, the police officer told him that he was named in FIR No. 211, registered on June 21, under sections 489-F/406/34 PPC, against him and both his sons, Attiq ur-Rehman and Aniq ur-Rehman, by Moon Shah for paying for cars sold to them with bogus cheques.

Advocate Minhas said Mr Bhatti was produced before a magistrate on June 24 who gave him into police custody for four days. During that period, the lawyer said, investigation officer ASI Mumtaz introduced the petitioner to Ali Bani Amin and Tahir Baiga, the son and son-in-law of IGP Islamabad who allegedly asked Mr Bhatti to pay Rs1.8 million immediately or face consequences.

On June 28, the lawyer said, the court sent Mr Bhatti on judicial remand to Adiala Jail but instead police kept him in Shalimar lockup.

In his petition to LHC, Mr Bhatti said since he was neither a party to any deal with the car dealer nor issued the alleged cheques, the acts of registration of FIR against him, demanding Rs1.8 million from him, and harassing and pressuring him were against the law.

The petitioner alleged that the car dealer, the son and son-in-law of Islamabad police chief used police as a tool to harass him in order to extract money from him. He pleaded the court to quash the FIR registered against him.

IG Bani Amin, when contacted, said neither he and his family members had no connection with the matter.

Asked for his comments, ASI Mumtaz denied harassment charges. “Neither police nor any family member of senior police officers harassed the petitioner, nor I introduced IG's son to him. I only conducted formal investigation in a professional manner after I received a complaint from the car dealer against him and his two sons,” he told Dawn.