LAHORE:
The Lahore High Court on Wednesday reserved judgment on a petition holding a deputy inspector general (investigation) and the capital city police officer (CCPO) responsible for the death of a robbery suspect in a fake police encounter in Nishtar Colony.
Petitioner Seema Bibi, mother of Constable Asif Bhatti, one of the suspects in the case, had sought court orders for a fresh probe into the murder and requested that a DIG-rank officer be selected for the purpose.
On Wednesday, Bibi’s counsel Aftab Bajwa said that the robbery suspect, Shahbaz Butt, had been shot dead by the Nishtar Colony police station house officer (SHO) and the investigation in-charge but they had not even been mentioned in the FIR.
Bajwa said Constables Asif and Qadir had only fired a few shots in the air on the SHO’s orders after he had killed the suspect, yet they had been blamed for the killing.
He alleged that the murder was ordered by the CCPO and produced the cell phone record of the suspected officials before the court to show that they were in contact with him when Butt was killed.
The counsel said SHO Naveed Akmal was related to an additional inspector general of police.
The Add IGP, he said, had ensured that Akmal or investigation in charge Zulfiqar Warya were not named.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 11th, 2011.
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