KARACHI, March 9: The accused police officials in the Gadap tragedy were given in judicial custody after two of them, including the former SHO, were refused bail by the judicial magistrate of Malir.

The accused - Inspector Munir Phulpoto, Sub-inspector Ishtiaq Ahmed and Head Constable Tahir Rajput - were produced before the Judicial Magistrate, Malir, Farid Anver Qazi, who sent them to jail till March 11.

The three policemen were booked in two cases, one pertaining to the murder of two minor girls and the other relating to negligence of official duties. The police obtained on Feb 25 their physical custody initially in the case related to negligence of official duties, which was registered under Section 155 of the Police Order 2002.

Police inquiry found the former SHO of Gadap police station the guilty of negligence in registering kidnapping case after disappearance of the two girls Hajra, 8, and Sassi, 5, from the area.

Inspector Phulpoto and SI Ahmed moved their bail applications in the case of negligence of official duties. Magistrate Farid Anver Qazi rejected their bail applications and sent them to jail. The magistrate also ordered the police to submit final charge-sheet (challan) in the negligence of duty case on March 11.

The girls had gone missing on Feb 20 and they were found murdered adjacent to the Gadap police station on Feb 23. The recovery of their decomposed bodies triggered violence in the vicinity, where people took to the street, lit bonfire and staged a sit-in encircling the area police station in protest.

CONVICTED: Additional District and Sessions Judge, East, Abdul Malik, convicted truck driver and sentenced him to a five-year term for killing a passer-by.

The judge also ordered the driver, Mohammed Ramzan, to pay Rs274,000 as Diyat to the family of victim, Mushtaq. The driver was also sentenced to a one-year term for injuring another passer-by, Saeed Qureshi. The driver, who was on bail, was arrested immediately after the pronouncement of judgment and sent to the prison on the orders of the judge.

SENTENCED: Additional District and Sessions Judge Riyaz Shaikh sentenced two brothers to suffer rigorous imprisonment for five years for wounding a man and his son in a firing incident in Liaquatabad in 1995.

The judge also imposed a fine of Rs10,000 on each convict Shahid Zaman and Fasih Zaman, who had injured complainant Syed Ikramul Hasan and his son Najeebul Hasan.