Police lapse could set carjacker free

Procedural mistakes help suspect, with record of carjacking, obtain freedom from police custody.

ISLAMABAD: Because of procedural mistakes by the city police, a suspect with a record of carjacking and forgery was all set to obtain freedom from police custody.

In an inquiry report submitted to the Supreme Court, the Inspector General of Police (IGP) Islamabad Kaleem Imam admitted that the suspect was arrested from Mianwali by the capital police without intimation to the Mianwali police.

After the submission of the inquiry report by the IGP, the supreme court decided to fix a date for hearing soon to determine the date and place of arrest of the suspect.

The mistake by the police had come to the fore after Sanaullah Khan, a suspected carjacker, filed an application for bail in the district courts Mianwali maintaining that he was arrested from there. However, the exact place of his arrest was not recorded in the official record of the capital police.

Later, it was entered as some place in Islamabad after the Mianwali police told the court that the suspect was not in their custody and that they were not aware of his whereabouts.

The court directed the IGP to inquire into the matter and ascertain his exact place of arrest. The police admitted, in the inquiry report, that the procedure for the arrest of the suspects was not followed by the capital police.

Taking advantage of the procedural mistake, the suspect could easily get out of police custody.

He was wanted by Islamabad police in a case of car theft. He had allegedly lifted the car of Muhammad Imran from Saddar area of the capital. Later, after the car was located in Mianwali, the suspect’s brother Shafaullah had asked Imran to pay Rs100,000 for his car, police sources said.

When Sanaullah was arrested, his brother tried to strike a deal with Imran. “He offered him Rs300,000 for withdrawing his application against Sanaullah and not pursuing the case,” said a police official.

However, the complainant pursued the case and appeared before the Supreme Court as well. Police official told The Express Tribune that Sanaullah was an established carjacker. “There were FIRs against him in over five cases of car theft and forging of documents,” he added.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 19^th, 2010.