DIG to decide on action over false evidence

Court disposes of petition from senator’s son, directs DIG to handle it.

LAHORE:

Additional District and Sessions Judge Malik Tariq Mehmood Zargham has directed the deputy inspector general (Operations) to investigate and proceed in accordance with the law on a petition for a case against the Defence B station house officer.

Petitioner Irshad Nabi Bangash, son of Senator Abdul Ghani Bangash of the Awami National Party, has accused the SHO of falsifying evidence to register a case of illegal arms and liquor possession against him. A lawyer representing SHO Faisal Sharif submitted on Saturday that the petitioner was trying to pressure the officer into dropping the FIR. He said that the petitioner had cooked up a “fake and fictitious story”.

The judge, after hearing both sides, directed the Operations DIG to probe the matter and then proceed in accordance with the law. He then disposed of the petition.

An inquiry into the incident on the orders of the Operations DIG has already been conducted and supports the petitioner’s claim that the SHO falsified evidence.



Bangash had said in his petition that he had come to Lahore from Peshawar a few weeks ago for a wedding and had been staying at his friend Abdul Waheed’s flat in H Block, Defence. He said that one night, the SHO burst into the apartment with a raiding team, beat him up and took away two Rolex watches valued at Rs800,000, 10,000 in pounds sterling, Rs500,000 in Pakistani current, a gold chain valued at Rs100,000, and his AK-47.

He said that the police took him to the station and drew up an FIR in which they claimed that he had been arrested on the road for carrying 15 bottles of liquor and an unlicensed Kalashnikov. He said that these allegations were entirely false and asked the court to order an FIR agains the SHO. The inquiry ordered by the Operations DIG supported Bangash’s claims, finding that the raid had been conducted on a private residence without legal sanction. SHO Sharif had also claimed that he had entered the apartment to arrest a dancer who was having an affair with the petitioner’s friend, but she had not been present at the time. The inquiry report also stated that the AK-47 was licensed.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 2^nd, 2012.