Victim claims police official helped suspect flee

Current investigation officer in case says they will soon submit report in court, seek to arrest absconder in Dubai

RAWALPINDI: A young man, who had been shot and injured over a petty matter while his friend had been killed five months ago, has claimed that a police investigator helped the killer flee the country.

Sameer Ali, who had lodged a complainant with the Ratta Amral police, told The Express Tribune that he and his friend had been shot at while they were sitting at a local restaurant in Ratta Amral on the morning of February 18. The 22-year-old said that he had been shot seven times and had to spend over a month in the hospital while his friend Shah Rukh had died on the spot.

Ali, who works in a private mobile company, alleged that SI Rehan, who was the initial investigation officer in the case, allegedly helped the suspects Siraj, Usman alias Manu, and Adnan alias Janu flee the country.

He further noted that it was not until April 24, over two months after the incident, when Usman, the key suspect, managed to flee to Dubai. Siraj and Adnan, however, had been arrested over a month after the murder.

Ali went on to claim that the investigation officer did not cooperate with him or the mother of Shah Rukh, instead, he helped the suspects.

He added that they had to raise the issue with the city police officer to have the investigation officer in the case changed. After accepting Ali’s application, the CPO appointed SI Riaz Bajwa as the investigation officer in the case.

Explaining the motive behind the murder, Ali said that he, Shah Rukh and the suspects were friends. However, Siraj and Usman were annoyed with Shah Rukh over some of his posts on Facebook.

Ali said that while he did not feel the matter was serious, but the suspects brought their ego into it.

He further claimed that since police failed to arrest Usman, relatives of the main suspect were taunting families of the victim.

Ali said that he had filed an application with the CPO for the early arrest of the suspect, but so far, the police had done nothing.

Meanwhile, SI Rehan could not be contacted. Bajwa, on the other hand, told The Express Tribune that the police had informally obtained Usman’s travel history from the concerned authorities. He added that they would soon submit investigation reports against Usman whereby they would declare him as an absconder of the law.

The investigation officer further said that once the investigation report is submitted to the court, they would write a letter to the Punjab home department seeking Usman’s arrest in Dubai.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 5^th, 2017.