RAWALPINDI, Feb 13: Three senior police officers of Islamabad and Rawalpindi are preparing to visit Kabul in pursuit of a Pakistani fugitive, Roohullah, who has been spotted in Afghanistan after he escaped from their custody some eight months ago.

“Yes, the passports of three police officers of the twin cities have been submitted to the Afghan embassy in Islamabad for visa processing after the Afghan government agreed to their visit,” a senior police officer told Dawn on Wednesday.

“I was asked by my seniors to submit my passport for Afghan visa now I have been waiting for the visa,” deputy superintendent of police DSP City Omer Hayat, who is member of the team.

Additional Inspector General of Police SSP Tahir Alam, Deputy Superintendent of Police Omer Hayat and Inspector Raja Rahat are said to be awaiting “security clearance” from Kabul.

Roohullah, 46, was arrested as a suspect following the murder of a retired judge of the Peshawar High Court, Sardar Khan, in Islamabad in February 2010 and put in Rawalpindis Adiala Jail.

But he escaped from the District Headquarters Hospital of the city in July last year, with alleged assistance from the hospital and jail staff.

Rawalpindi police team led by Superintendent of Police Omer Hayat, accompanied by Peshawar police carried out a raid at his native house in December to arrest him as they were expecting that he would visit his house.

The police team also interrogated his two wives during the raid that remained unsuccessful.

After chasing false clues and failed raids on his house in Peshawar, the police learnt that he had been spotted in Afghanistan and sought assistance of the Afghan authorities in hunting him down there.

Last September, the police applied to the Afghan Embassy in Islamabad for visas for its officers to visit Kabul in search of Roohullah but the embassy neither granted nor rejected the request.

In December, after getting a nod from the Foreign Office, Islamabads Inspector  General of Police Bani Amin, accompanied by SP Israr Ahmed Abbasi and SSP Operation Yasin Farooq, met the Afghan ambassador with the request to facilitate the pursuit of the fugitive.

Reports at that time said the ambassador promised to pursue their request with Kabul, although an extradition treaty did not exist between their two countries – Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Sardar Khan was allegedly killed after he turned down bribe in a land grabbing case.