KARACHI: A court observed that DSP Umair Tariq ‘lied’ about his involvement in a case pertaining to a robbery during a raid on the house of a trader in Orangi Town, it emerged on Thursday.

“From the start of the raid, DSP-UT Umair Tariq and his private person switched off their mobile phone. That DSP-UT Umair Tariq lied that he was not involved in the raid,” this observation was detailed in an order by Judicial Magistrate (West) Muhammad Abdullah Qadri, who quashed the investigation officer’s request to dispose of the case by downgrading it in ‘C Class’ in the final chargesheet.

The court also noted that after the incident was highlighted on the media, over Rs10 million and other valuables were handed over to the complainant, Shakir Khan. However, over Rs9.6m and 20 to 30 tolas gold were yet to be recovered from the ‘un-arrested police officials and private person who had absconded for fear of arrest.’

In an almost identical order as the earlier judicial magistrate (west) issued, the judge took cognizance against all suspects including DSP Umair, SSP Imran Qureshi and 19 other policemen and private persons, and transferred the case to the sessions court for trial after completing necessary formalities.

Meanwhile, non-bailable warrants were also issued against the absconding suspects, with a directive to produce them at the next hearing scheduled for April 27. The judge also instructed DSP Syed Balaghat Hussain Shah, to submit a supplementary challan.

Published in Dawn, April 19th, 2024