LAHORE, May 31: Failing to arrest any of the gangsters nominated in the murder of three young men in Gujjarpura police precinct despite monstrous claims, the police have contributed to the agony of the victims’ families.

The allegation was levelled by the dear ones of the three men who were gunned down in an ambush by their rivals on Thursday. The ‘justice-seekers’ claimed that the police had not arrested even a single nominated person so far.

A police source, however, claimed that the law enforcers had managed to arrest one of the nominated persons, identified as Irfan, and was “very close to the arrest of Rafiq”.

“We have been awaiting breakthrough for the last 48 hours, but the police have only taken into custody some relatives of the suspects for interrogation,” Ejaz Hyder, a nephew of deceased Muhammad Azam, told Dawn.

Azam of Karol village and his two guards, Ameen and Ashraf, were killed when 15 armed men, two of them in police uniform, showered them with bullets in the fields of one Annu Bhatti on Thursday morning. The three breathed their last on the spot.

“The families, including women and children, of the accused have disappeared from their residences after the incident. However, the police have picked some of them for interrogation,” Ejaz said, adding that the police were also conducting raids at a village near Rana Town (Narang Road).

According to Hyder, who lost his father Muhammad Mansha in the killing spree by their rivals in 2006, the real cause of enmity between their (Muhammad Shaukat group) and Bao Azeem group was to maintain domination in the area.

Bao Azeem, who owned only two acres at Karol village, had lost 372 acres of official land after its seizure by the government and after his murder in Mughalpura in 2005, his son Maqsood and nephew Afzal nurtured grudge against Shaukat group for having 125 acres.

They first managed to kill Shaukat’s two brothers — Muhammad Liaquat, who was a local nazim, and Muhammad Ashiq -- and then their cousin in February 2006. Later in May, they targeted Sabir and Muhammad Mansha to settle the score for losing influence and domination they had been enjoying earlier in the area.

He alleged that the main accused Afzal, who was leading Bao Azeem group, was released on bail before the general election 2008 and soon after his release, he made it a habit to enjoy aerial firing at the village to celebrate his release and create fear among the rivals.

He further said PML-Q stalwart Ashiq Diyal and PML-N Lahore president Mian Marghoob Ahmad, a relative of Bao Azeem, played their role in the release of Maqsood to get votes of his clan.

Hyder further alleged that after the killing of their five people in 2006, the then investigation officer of Gujjarpura police station, Shafiq by name, received huge gratification from Bao Azeem group and managed release of half of the arrested men. Four key figures in the rival camp, Maqsood, Afzal and their two relatives Rafiq and Abdul Rehman, were declared proclaimed offenders and are still missing.

Mian Marghoob, when contacted, said neither he was a relative of Bao Azeem nor had he supported the accused party.