PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court has issued notices to Mardan’s regional police officer and other officials over a petition accusing them of supporting a former senator charged with kidnapping a brother of the petitioner for ransom.

A bench consisting of Justice Ijaz Anwar and Justice Mohammad Naeem Anwar held a preliminary hearing into the petition of Abbas Khan, a resident of Mardan, and directed the respondents, including the RPO, superintendent of police (Investigation) Mardan, SHO of Rustam police station, former senator Khanzada Khan, his son, Sheraz Khan, and the district public prosecutor to respond to the petition on the next hearing.

The petitioner requested the court to order the police for the inclusion of Pakistan Penal Code’s Section 365-A (kidnapping for ransom) and Anti-Terrorism Act’s Section 7 in the FIR.

He also sought the court’s orders for the transfer of investigation into the case from the police to any other law-enforcement agency insisting that the police had been supporting suspects.

The petitioner prayed the high court to order the arrest and investigation of the people charged with kidnapping his brother.

RPO, other officials accused of favouring ex-senator

Naumanul Haq Kakakhel, lawyer for the petitioner, said on Feb 5, 2019, a brother of his client was abducted and firing was also made on him by four unidentified persons.

He said the matter was reported to the SHO of the Rustam police station but the latter instead of registering the FIR recorded it in the daily diary.

The lawyer said the petitioner and his father, Mohammad Ikram, had directly charged former senator Khanzada Khan and his son, Sheraz, along with some unidentified people with committing the offence but due to their political influence, the FIR was not registered against them.

He claimed that after two months of the incident, the police influenced some witnesses and forced them into recording statements against the petitioner.

The lawyer added that those witnesses later produced an affidavit claiming that they were forced by the police officials for misstatement.

He said on Apr 17, 2019, a petition of his client was accepted by a court in Mardan district and under Section 22-A of Code of Criminal Procedure, the police were directed to register the FIR.

The lawyer, however, said the relevant provisions of the PPC and Anti-Terrorism Act weren’t included in the FIR.

He said in the meanwhile, the petitioner’s father received calls for paying ransom and due to threat to the life of his kidnapped son, Mohammad Ibrahim, he had paid the ransom leading to the release of his son after 14 months long captivity.

The counsel claimed that the kidnapped person requested the investigation in charge of the Rustam police station to record his statement with a magistrate but the latter declined to accept the request.

He contended that though Khanzada Khan and his son were named in the case, the police officers didn’t take any action against them and were bent on destroying the case.

Published in Dawn, February 13th, 2021