GUJRAT, June 16: The Kharian Sadar police have registered two cases against PPP-backed Tehsil Nazim Nadeem Asghar Kaira and his younger brother Zaheer Asghar Kaira and 15 others for the murder of three policemen and one of their alleged accomplices in a shootout in Kharian’s main bazaar on Sunday.

Nadeem and Zaheer are the sons of former PPP MNA Haji Asghar Kaira and cousins of federal minister Qamar Zaman Kaira and provincial minister Tanveer Ashraf Kaira and the police are conducting raids at Kaira House and their political office in Lalamusa to arrest them. However, none of them has been arrested so far.

The police registered two separate cases; FIR No. 246 on the report of Sadar SHO Tariq Javed and FIR No. 247 on the report of Rasheed Butt, who is the owner of the disputed property in front of which the shootout took place, against Kaira brothers and Ashraf Pehlwan, Shehzad, Naseer Butt, Waqar Butt, Mohammad Amin, Fayaz, Jabran Tariq, Sabir Ali, Qaisar, Zafar Iqbal and Majid Ali. Most of the suspects, except Kaira brothers, were arrested soon after the incident on Sunday evening.

According to reports, Rasheed Butt, the owner of Kashmir Plaza near main bazaar, had dispute regarding the title of the plaza with some of his close kin.

Zaheer Kaira had given some amount to Butt’s kin as token money to purchase the plaza. In the meantime, the man with whom Kaira had inked the deal died leading Kaira to move a civil court. The court also gave verdict in Kaira’s favour. On June 14, Zaheer Kaira got registered a case of aerial firing against Rasheed Butt after procuring directives from Kharian DSP Munawar Bhatti and the police arrested him in that case.

However, PML-N district president and former MPA Malik Hanif Awan and PML-N MNA Malik Jamil Awan intervened and persuaded the police that the case against Rasheed Butt was baseless on which Gujrat Headquarters SP Afzal Virk investigated the matter and then ordered the police to release Rasheed Butt.

On Sunday, a group of armed men took control of the plaza on which Rasheed Butt informed the police that some armed men were illegally occupying his property. When a police party reached the scene, the armed men opened fire, killing three policemen and one of their accomplices.

Talking to Dawn, Hanif Awan alleged that DSP Munawar Bhatti was sole responsible of the incident. He said Bhatti’s irresponsible conduct throughout the case led to the Sunday’s tragic episode.

Hanif Awan urged the authorities concerned to hold an impartial inquiry into the matter.

Meanwhile, sources said that Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif has ordered immediate arrest of the culprits without any discrimination and sought a complete report regarding the incident.

Local PML-N officials claimed that Sharif was likely to visit Gujrat in next 24 hours to condole the death of three policemen with the bereaved families.