PESHAWAR, Dec 4: On the directives of the Peshawar High Court, the crimes branch has registered an FIR against four police officials for killing a person in a fake encounter.

The case was registered under section 302 of the Qisas and Diyat Law, however no arrest has been made yet.

The officials filed an appeal against the court order, but they were not granted any relief by the Supreme Court which issued notice to the respondent.

The officials are: deputy superintendent of police, Gul Afzal, and station house officers Fareed Hussain, Fazal Muhammad and Sheikh Fareed. They have filed an application before the Supreme Court, praying they should not be arrested till the disposal of their appeal.

The Supreme Court will take up their application on Dec 7.

It is learnt that some high police officials, on whose directives the said encounter had been arranged, have been making efforts for saving their colleagues. One of the officials reportedly paid a visit to a high court judge, but he was informed that after the issuance of the order by the high court nothing could be done at the high court’s level.

On Nov 1, a division bench of the high court comprising Justice Shahjehan Khan Yousafzai and Justice Qazi Ahsanullah Qureshi had accepted a writ petition filed by Shahi Lal, mother of the deceased Ali Haider.

The court directed the police to register the FIR under section 302 of the Qisas and Diyat Law against the four officers. Also, the petitioner had charged the then senior superintendent of police of Peshawar, Malik Saad, with masterminding the killing plan.

The police claimed that Ali Haider was a diehard criminal and was wanted in different cases, including a dacoity committed in Peshawar on July 4, 2000 during which a prize bond dealer had been deprived of Rs9 million.

A raiding party, including the four officers, was constituted which visited Daggar in Buner district to apprehend the accused. Police claimed that when they raided his residence he opened fire and in the ensuing exchange of fire Ali Haider was killed.

On the other hand, the petitioner claimed that the raiding party had visited their residence at night between July 4 and 5, 2000. Ali Haider surrendered to the police. But the police took him away and next day they were informed that he had been killed in an encounter, the petitioner added.