Crime round-up: Four policemen suspended over bribery, torture allegations

Half a dozen suspects arrested from different parts of the city

KARACHI: Four policemen were suspended following allegations of bribery and torture of citizens on Friday while nearly half a dozen suspects were arrested during separate raids in different parts of the city.

Four policemen of the New Karachi Industrial Area police station were suspended by the senior police officials. The policemen suspended were identified as ASI Hazir Rehman and three constables, Intizar, Mumtaz and Sadiq. They were suspended following a protest by a group of residents outside the police station.

The protesters claimed that these policemen, while conducting snap checking in the area, used to torture the citizens and threatened them to implicate them in fake cases if anyone refuses to pay their bribes. A large number of residents of the area gathered outside the police station and staged a protest against the policemen allegedly involved in corruption. The protesters also demanded the senior policemen to arrest them.





Following the protest, senior police officials reached the site and calmed the situation down by negotiating with the protesters. DSP Irshad Bhutto said that the policemen had stopped two youths riding a motorcycle without a registration number plate. The youths argued that the police did not have a registration number plate, upon which the policemen beat them up. The officer said that all the four policemen have been suspended while an inquiry against them has been initiated.



Arrests

Separately, four suspects were taken into custody during a targeted operation conducted by the Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) of the Sindh police on Friday.

The suspects, according to the CTD officials, belonged to a banned militant outfit and were shifted to the CTD for further questioning while weapons were also recovered from their possession. CTD officials said that the raid was conducted on a tip-off about the presence of militants of banned outfits in the area.  Similarly, two more suspects were arrested during a raid conducted by the Pirabad police in Manghopir locality. The police also claimed to have recovered weapons and narcotics from their possession. Cases were registered against them while further investigations are underway.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 2^nd, 2016.