Cop used to rent out guns from court’s store

Head constable in-charge of maalkhana lands in slammer

KARACHI:

Police investigators have yet to complete their probe into the shenanigans of a cop who was renting out pistols seized from suspects to muggers on the streets to commit more crimes.

South District judicial magistrate has directed the investigating officer to present the challan of the cases registered against Head Constable Arshad allegedly involved in criminal misuse of case property.

Weapons, drugs, vehicles and even documents marked as evidence are kept as case property in the court's warehouse known as malkhana.

Head Constable Arshad as in-charge of the malkhana was allegedly renting out handguns kept in the store to criminals.

The matter came to fore when the forensic lab report of pistol seized from an injured suspect matched with another pistol recovered earlier from another suspect. The pistol, as per its identification number and forensics report, was supposed to be in the court's safe custody, instead of in the hands of muggers on the streets killing and injuring more and more people.

Subsequently, Sub-Inspector Ali Asghar filed two cases against HC Arshad at the City Courts police station.

On Saturday, the court directed the investigating officer to submit the challan of the cases at the next hearing.

The Additional District and Sessions Court had rejected the bail of HC Arshad and directed police to take him into custody.

According to the police, a suspect, Shehryar, arrested in October 2021, had revealed that he had rented out weapons supplied from the Karachi City Courts Maalkhana.

According to Sub-Inspector Ali Asghar, the in-charge of the maalkhana HC Arshad changed and embezzled from the case properties.

He told the court that a case of possession of 30 bore pistol was registered at Frere police station.

Meanwhile, Taimoriya police station sent a weapon recovered from another accused for forensic test. It was found out that the case of the said weapons has already been registered at the Frere police station.

The official in-charge of the maalkhana could not give a satisfactory answer to the above. Sub-Inspector Ali Asghar said interrogating HC Arshad will lead to more such disclosures.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 13^th, 2022.