PESHAWAR, July 9: The Peshawar district and sessions judge on Wednesday ordered an inquiry into an incident in which police had tortured a detainee. 

The judge Hayat Ali Shah directed the concerned area magistrate to conduct the inquiry within a week.

The court had directed to produce the detainee, who was in prison, on Wednesday. The detainee, Amanullah Khan, informed the court that he was kept illegally in detention and was severely tortured by the police. He showed injury marks on his arms and legs to the judge.

The court directed that the detainee should be examined at the forensic science department of Khyber Medical College.

The court took cognizance of the issue after a habeas corpus petition was filed before it by Gula Jan, a resident of Sardar Garhi area. The applicant had stated that his son was arrested by officials of Chamkani police station on June 28 and had been kept in illegal custody.

The police produced detainee before the magistrate on Tuesday who was later on sent to the prison.

ACQUITTED: An accountability appellate bench of the Peshawar High Court on Wednesday acquitted a former executive engineer of Wapda, Muhammad Israr Khan.

The bench comprising Justice Khalida Rachied and Justice Qazi Ahsanullah Qureshi said that the prosecution could not prove its case against the appellant.

The appellant was convicted by an accountability court on April 12, 2002 and was sentenced to five years of rigorous imprisonment along with a fine of Rs12.32 million. The trial court had also ordered forfeiture of his properties to the state.

The appellate bench also accepted petitions of his wife Gulshan Ara and brother Muhammad Ikram. They had challenged the forfeiture of properties.

Senior advocate M Sardar Khan appeared for the appellant and argued that the trial court had overlooked various important points while convicting the appellant. He said that the evidence on record could not connect the appellant to the offence.

Mr Khan argued that the appellant had provide details of sources from  where he had acquired his properties and none of them were bought through illegal means. He added that the charge of possessing assets disproportionate to his known sources of income against him was incorrect.

The National Accountability Bureau (Nab) had claimed that the appellant possessed assets worth Rs40 million. It had also claimed that he had 1280 kanals of land including a farm house and a fruit farm; two flour mills; two marble factories; a two-kanal house in Mardan and a house in islamabad; five cars and Rs15 million cash.