Official collusion: ATC sends police, CDA officials on remand

ISLAMABAD:

An anti-terrorism court (ATC) on Saturday sent four policemen and two Capital Development Authority (CDA) employees on four-day physical remand for their suspected links with extortion gangs in the capital.

The six are accused of patronising extortionists in Sabzi Mandi and helping them collect the illegal payments from traders and merchants operating there.

After two days of contradictory claims, the police finally produced assistant sub-inspectors Muhammad Ishaq, Muhammad Sayed and Muhammad Azam, Constable Aga Shah, and CDA enforcement staffers Abdul Ghafoor and Sagheer before  the ATC. The court handed them over to the police on remand.

The police had also obtained the physical remand of seven alleged extortionists who belong to two gangs involved in collecting ‘protection money’ from vegetable vendors and wholesalers.

Earlier, the police had claimed that the policemen were detained on Thursday. But on Friday, when the arrested men were not produced in court, the police said they were not in custody and an inquiry had been initiated into their alleged connection with the extortionists.

After being reprimanded by Interior Minister Chaudhary Nisar Ali Khan on their conduct, the police quickly tracked down and arrested the suspected policemen and CDA employees.

A police spokesperson denied that the police had been reluctant to take action against the six officials and said an FIR was registered on September 11.

On Saturday, some van drivers also filed a complaint with the Islamabad Police that armed men have tried to extort Rs300,000 from them.

The drivers said they were stopped by armed men on the Margalla Hills as they were returning to their homes in villages located in the area. The complaint was addressed to the Islamabad senior superintendent of police.

The police did not confirm if a case had been registered on the van drivers’ complaint.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 15^th, 2013.