FAISALABAD, June 6: The motor branch scandal took a new turn on Sunday when the investigators gleaned information about the involvement of some senior officials and politicians in the network of issuing fake registration books to lifted and smuggled vehicles.

A well-placed police source told this correspondent that the arrested excise inspector, Jawed Iqbal, motor registration clerks Umer Saleem and Muhammad Yousaf and peon Muhammad Ashfaq were playing the role of 'stooges' while an organized gang was backing them.

The investigators observed that there was a vast network in the country, consisting of some corrupt functionaries of the police, the excise and taxation department, employees of some motor manufacturing companies and gangs of vehicle-lifters.

About 500 cases of issuing fake registration books had so far been traced by the investigation team. The source claimed that during the preliminary interrogation the arrested officials confessed that they had been committing the crime with the patronage of some of their high-ups and a strong lobby of politicians for the last so many years. However, they refused to provide names of their seniors, the source added.

Meanwhile, the four excise officials have been shifted to the Police Constabulary Headquarters near Makuana, where a team headed by DSP Chaudhry Mushtaq was investigating them. However, no case has so far been registered in any of the police stations against the accused.

The source said more people would be arrested from different parts of the province during the next 24 hours in the light of the information provided by the accused. It may be noted here that a joint team of the local and the Lahore police here on Saturday conducted a raid at the E&T department.

The police had arrested four excise officials and sealed the motor branch. Despite the weekly holiday on Sunday, armed policemen were deployed around the excise office.

CONSTABLES BOOKED: The Satiana police on Sunday booked 11 constables for their negligence in duty due to which two under-trial prisoners escaped. The case has been registered on the report of police lines officer Zaman Ali against Nazir, Saif, Farooq, Muhammad Iqbal and others.

The prisoners have also been nominated in the case. However, none of the accused policemen has so far been arrested. Nasir of Tandlianwala and Nawab of Garh managed their escape from the police van when they were on their way to the court. One of them was overpowered by the villagers when he tried to catch a vehicle to leave the area.

SUICIDE: A poor villager committed suicide by taking poison in Mamukanjan here on Sunday. Muhammad Iqbal had been jobless for the last so many years due to which his family was facing serious financial constraints.

MURDERED: A vagabond murdered a minor girl after raping her in Chak No 271-RB. Tahir abducted 'R' when she was going to the school and had been raping her for about two months at some unknown place. Police registered a Hudood case against the accused, arrested him and recovered the body on Sunday.