RAWALPINDI, Dec 22: Former chief of Rawalpindi city police Saud Aziz and SP Khurram Shahzad were taken into custody by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) on Wednesday after a court hearing the Benazir Bhutto assassination case cancelled their pre-arrest bail.
Anti-Terrorism Court-III Judge Rana Nisar Ahmed cancelled the bail granted to the officers last month after the prosecution submitted a supplementary investigation report alleging that they were part of a conspiracy which resulted in the assassination of the former prime minister three years ago.
A joint investigation team (JIT) of the FIA had earlier said that no concrete evidence had been found against them.
During the trial in the Adiyala jail of five other accused, Special Public Prosecutor Chaudhry Azhar sought the cancellation of the bail, saying the officers had washed the crime scene before enough material had been collected from outside the Liaquat Bagh, causing problems for investigators.
The prosecutor said the former CPO asked SP Ashfaq Anwar, who had been assigned to escort Ms Bhutto out of Rawalpindi, to move to Koral Chowk near Islamabad airport where an election rally of Mian Nawaz Sharif had come under attack.
He said then SSP (operations) Yasin Farooq was in charge of the security plan and questioned the authority of Mr Aziz to order the SP to move away from Liaquat Bagh on Dec 27, 2007.
The prosecutor accused the police officers of having tried to hinder the re-investigation launched by the FIA in August last year and tamper with the call records of the day.
Mr Shahzad, then SP of Rawal Town, was accused of ordering the hosing down of the crime scene on the directives of Mr Aziz one and a half hours after the blast and destroying evidence.
The two police officers denied the charges and said that SP Anwar was the chief of security of the Civil Lines area where the rally of Mr Sharif had taken place. They said President Asif Zardari had not allowed the post-mortem of the slain leader.
Defending the hosing down of the crime scene, they said PPP workers had started crying and rubbing blood on their faces. They said the place was cleaned after collecting necessary evidence.
The court may charge the two police officers along with the arrested men -- Aitzaz Shah, Sher Zaman, Abdul Rasheed, Hasnain Gul and Rafaqat Hussain -- on Jan 7.
Talking to reporters, the public prosecutor said former president Pervez Musharraf could also be proceeded against if evidence was found against him.