The senior superintendent of police (SSP) of District South and an under-training deputy superintendent of police have been removed after they were found responsible for a recent house robbery in Orangi Town.
An inquiry report has showed that the SSP, an under-training DSP and other police personnel and private persons involved in the raid were responsible for the robbery. The report prepared by West Zone DIG Asim Khan after the Sindh IGP took notice and assigned him on Monday to conduct an inquiry and submit a report within 24 hours.
The statements of SSP Imran Qureshi and DSP Umair Tariq have been included in the report. The other police personnel who participated in the raid have also recorded their statements.
SSP Qureshi and DSP Tariq have been held responsible in the 34-page report, which has labelled the police raid as a robbery. Under the guidance of DSP Tariq, two officers and a private team carried out the robbery, as per the report. Wearing police uniforms, five individuals, including two officers, looted Rs19 million, 70 tolas of gold, and other valuables, the report said and added that cash, gold, and mobile phones seized by private individuals were confiscated. The looted cash and gold were taken to the DSP office.
Based on information regarding terrorist financing, the DSP was assigned the task due to the unavailability of the ASP, who was sick, according to the SSP. “The raid was conducted on the information provided by the SSP South’s informers, and private persons provided by SSP South were conducting the raid inside the house, who also too the cash, gold, mobile phones, laptops and other valuables into custody, according to DSP Umair Tariq.”
DSP Tariq was also present outside the house during the robbery, the report said and added that private persons were introduced by DSP Tariq as officers of a sensitive agency. Upon reaching the office, Rs10.5 million and jewelry were found in a locker, as reported by Umair Tariq.
Two private persons, namely Khurram Ali and Faizan, were sent along with three personnel from the Shaheen Force, the report said and added that five private persons conducted a house search while two police officers provided security inside the house, as reported by DSP Tariq.
The Shaheen Force personnel statement revealed that during the raid, they were kept outside the house; however, the DSP Tariq said that the lock of the box was broken in his office and the personal driver was made to throw the box outside. Police mobiles and a Vigo were taken out by DSP Umair Tariq’s instructions, according to Constable Khurram.
Defence SHO Shaukat Hayat in his statement said that SSP Imran Qureshi ordered returning the seized items found during the raid and he SSP handed a bag and a shopping bag over to him outside the Clifton police station while all items were handed over to Shakir and Waseem. The report said contradictions were found in two statements of DSP Umair Tariq in the report. Based on sensitive information, the task of conducting the raid should not have been given to DSP Umair Tariq, as per the report.
The inquiry committee recommended that strict departmental or legal action should be taken against DSP Tariq for his direct involvement in such a heinous crime along with private persons involved in criminal activities. It also recommended strict legal action against the private persons and departmental action against the personal staff named constables Khurram Ali and Faizan Ali.
The committee further revealed that constables, namely Humza Saeed, Ejaz Ahmed and Ali Hayat of the Shaheen Force, have no involvement in the raid as they were assigned to the police party under directions and were instructed to cordon off the house from the outside and they did not enter the house. however, they confirmed the presence of plainclothes persons in the police party, the recovery of some items in a black bag, and the loading of these items into the Vigo and police vehicle. They also mentioned the arrest of two – applicant and his brother from the raided house -- and their subsequent release on the Baloch Colony bridge. It is recommended that, based on the course of the inquiry, the three constables of the Shaheen Force are found innocent and no evidence has been established against them.
It is also recommended that appropriate action be taken against SSP Imran Qureshi for not assigning the duty of conducting the raid to professionally trained police officers of District South. The whereabouts of Rs8.5 million and some jewellery found in the box could not be determined as per the inquiry report. The DSP was reportedly taken into custody.