ISLAMABAD: It has become a routine that in case of a crime or an incident, officials of different police stations show reluctance in registration of the FIR and try to put the responsibility on the neighbouring police saying the crime did not take place in their limits.

However, if suspects are arrested or caught by the citizens, all the relevant police stations start claiming that the incident took place in their limits because the arrest adds to their positive performance.

On Saturday, a similar situation was observed when a man was robbed in the limits of Islamabad but the suspects were caught by the citizens in Rawalpindi.

The Rawalpindi police not only took the custody of the suspects but also registered an FIR without any delay.

Asad Mehmood, who runs a shop in Khayaban-i-Sir Syed, told Dawn that he went across I.J. Principal Road in Islamabad and while returning two motorbike riders intercepted him.

“They pulled a dagger and asked me to hand over my mobile phone and cash to them. I started resisting them after which one of the suspects injured me with the dagger. But in the meanwhile people sitting across the road rushed towards us and caught the suspects.”

He said one of the people called the Pirwadhai police and told them that they had caught two robbers.

“The police reached the spot within minutes and took the custody of both the suspects. The police recovered five cell phones, Rs46,000 cash and my wallet from the suspects,” he said.

“Almost half an hour earlier, both the suspects had robbed another man, Kashif Shah, who also identified his cell phone from among those recovered from the robbers,” Mr Mehmood said.

The FIR registered by the Pirwadhai police claimed that the police arrested the suspects while they were fleeing after robbing Mr Mehmood.

It said the police later contacted Mr Mehmood to hand over the valuables to him.

When contacted, investigation officer of the case Saleem Akhtar told Dawn that the police were allowed to make little changes to the details of any incident such as the place of its occurrence for the convenience of the robbery victims.

He said both the suspects had been sent to Adiala jail on a judicial remand.

The police will request for their physical remand to know how many robberies they had committed in the past.

Published in Dawn, November 5th, 2018