ISLAMABAD: Six months after being cleared of all charges by the court, the family of a person suspected in an auto-theft case is running from pillar to post to get back the money fleeced by the local police, in the course of the investigation.

Details of the case obtained by Dawn show that there was rampant corruption at all stages of the investigation. Allegedly Rs50,000 was doled out to make the police more ‘hospitable’ towards the suspect.

It all started in March 2011, when Imran, a taxi driver by profession, was visited by his friends and former taxi drivers, Noor Hussain and Abdul Rehman.

During their three day stay at Imran’s home, they rented two cars: one was owned by Mohammad Khalid Shahzad, who works as a route permit officer in Islamabad Transport Authority, and the other was taken from a rent-a-car showroom in Saddar, Rawalpindi.

A few days later his friends disappeared with the two vehicles and the owner of one of the cars immediately registered a complaint with the Margalla police station.

A police officer told Dawn that Imran was a prime suspect as his mobile number frequently appeared on the call record of the culprits.In the meantime, Shahzad — the owner of one of the cars — through his sources discovered that his car had been sold in Nowshera for Rs200,000.

“I left for Nowshera and with the help of an influential paid Rs400,000 as ransom to get my car back,” he told Dawn.

In May, the Islamabad Anti-Car Lifting Cell (ACLC) carried out a sting operation by placing an anonymous call to Hussain and Rehman posing as potential buyers for stolen cars.  Meeting date was set.

On the day of the meeting, Rehman drove to Islamabad with three other people including a constable from Mianwali police force, and were arrested as soon as they entered the capital.

“The investigations of the case were transferred to an inspector of the ACLC, who set free the three people, including the constable,” Shahzad said, “And the investigators insisted that Imran was involved in stealing the vehicles.”

However, Mohammad Sultan, Imran’s father was convinced that his son was not involved and wanted Shahzad to drop his name from the case.

In turn, Sultan gave Rs150,000 as a guarantee to Shahzad — a cheque worth Rs100,000 and the rest in cash – and promised that his son will not run away.

Shahzad claims that he was uncomfortable keeping the money and decided to pass the ‘guarantee money’ to the ASI investigating the case.

“I also gave an affidavit in which I said that I considered Imran innocent,” he added.

However, the investigating officer kept the ‘guarantee money’ but refused to accept the affidavit and submitted a challan against Imran in the court for trial.

Sultan claims the investigators demanded Rs20,000 for the release of Imran, which was paid, but once they obtained physical remand of Imran they asked for Rs17,000 more to spare him from being tortured.

In all, Sultan claims, he gave Rs37,000 directly as bribe money.

During the period of the remand the investigators failed to prove his involvement in the crime.

“In early June, I again submitted another affidavit in the court of civil judge stating that Imran had nothing to do with the crime and in response the judge granted him bail,” Shahzad said, adding that the case was put through trial and Imran was declared innocent.

Once Imran had been cleared, Sultan asked Shahzad to return the ‘guarantee money’.

Shahzad in turn approached the ASI but found him reluctant to give the money back despite repeated attempts.

In March this year Shahzad and Sultan lodged a complaint against the ASI in the office of Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP): “Although the complaint remained unattended, the ASI returned the cheque.”

“On October 3, we again lodged a fresh complaint in the office of SSP Yasin Farooq who called us and the ASI. The latter appeared after repeated attempts on October 10,” Shahzad said, adding that after hearing the complainants and the accused the SSP ordered a registration of the case against the ASI in Ramna police station and also suspended him.

However, the case is yet to be registered against the ASI.

Shahzad said: “The ASI met me on October 12 and gave back Rs25,000, and demanded that we withdraw the complaint.”

“The policeman further said that the remaining amount was distributed among other officers and it was difficult to collect it from them,” Shahzad added.