DSP Rajab Ali gets 12-year jail, Rs10.4m fine

Illegal assets 

PESHAWAR: The Accountability Court on Monday sentenced Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Rajab Ali to 12 years rigorous imprisonment with fine of Rs10.4 million after the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) proved charges of making illegal assets against him in the court.

The accountability court judge, Zarqaish Sani, also awarded 12 years sentence and fine of over Rs10 million to co-accused Lateef Hussain in the case.

In the short order, the judge stated that Rajab Ali was convicted under Section 9 (a)(v) of National Accountability Ordinance and sentenced to undergo seven years rigorous imprisonment with fine of Rs1,46,88,056 and five years more sentence for offence at serial number 3 (a) of the schedule regarding committing fraud.

It said that the co-accused Lateef Hussain was awarded 12 years sentence for the same offences and fined Rs1,40,87,500 for committing the crime.Though the trial court had awarded a total of 12 years sentence to DSP Mardan, Rajab Ali, he would spend only seven years sentence in the prison as the sentence awarded to the police officer is concurrent.

During trial of the case, the NAB senior prosecutor Riaz Khan Mohmand submitted before the court that Rajab Ali, the deputy superintendent of police in Mardan district, had been arrested by the NAB Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on April 18, 2014 and then his remand was taken for several days.

He informed the court that the accused DSP was arrested for having illegal properties in different areas.        The prosecutor said investigators had so far traced properties worth Rs17 million beyond the source of income. He said that the accused DSP owned properties in Parachinar, headquarters of Kurram Agency.

After completion of the investigation, the NAB filed a reference of Rs14.6 million against the police officer in the accountability court. The NAB also included another policeman named Lateef Hussain in the reference.

The NAB had also friezed properties of the accused DSP that included a 40-marla plot of land in Taxila, 32 kanals and six marlas piece of land in Chinarabad area of Taxila, one kanal plot of land in Taxila, and 15 marlas piece of land in Lala Killay in Peshawar.

According to the NAB, the alleged accumulation of the suspect’s illegal assets came to the light after the people complained of illegal detentions by the official to the high court during his term as station house officer in Hayatabad in Peshawar. Later, the court asked the NAB, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa director general to investigate the complaints.

In the inquiry, the NAB traced the suspect’s valuable properties, which he had purchased when he was the SHO of Hayatabad police station.During the hearing into a petition, the high court had taken notice of the illegal detention and torturing of a fifth grader by Rajab Ali. The mother of the child had moved the court against the detention of her son Iqbal Hussain, the student of a private school.

While the petition was pending with the court, the police freed the boy, who later told the court that he was picked up by the officials of Hayatabad Police Station from near a checkpost. The boy claimed that severe torture in custody led to fracture of his ribs and one leg.