Intizar sped the car after armed men in plain clothes tried to stop us: key witness

Police have recorded the statement of a girl who claims to be in the car with 28-year-old Intizar Ahmed minutes before officials of the Anti-Car Lifting Cell opened fire at the vehicle, killing him in Defence on Saturday night.

The girl, who remained unhurt and escaped the shooting site, told police that men in plain clothes, carrying weapons had signalled their car to stop near Bara Bukhari Lane No 5, Khayaban-e-Ittehad, DHA Phase-VII on the night of January 13, but Intizar Ahmed, the victim, tried to speed away.

She further said that when they had crossed past the men, they began firing at the car which came to a stop when some of the bullets hit Intizar. According to the girl’s statement, she got frightened when she saw an injured Intizar lying unconscious and stepped out of the car as soon as the firing stopped. She said people started gathering around the vehicle and she managed slip out, flagged a rickshaw and left for her home.

Intizar was shot dead when some ACLC officials opened fire at his car after he had sped away when they had signalled him to stop on Saturday night. Incidentally, in a press conference held on the night of Intizar’s murder, his father Ishtiaq and lawyer Muhammad Asif Khudai had dismissed media reports that a girl had been in the car with him at the time of the incident.

“To our knowledge, there was no girl with him, and no such woman or girl has contacted us,” the lawyer said. Meanwhile, addressing a press conference in his office on Monday, Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIGP) South Azad Khan confirmed that a girl was with Intizar in the car.

DIGP Khan said the girl was a prime witness in the case and her security was police’s responsibility. He added they have recorded her initial statement and if needed, they would record another statement under the Section 161 of the Criminal Procedure Code.

Khan said on the night of September 13, a nine-member squad of ACLC had set up a picket at Bara Bukhari Lane No 5 because a white Corolla gang had been active in Defence, whose members had stolen vehicles of public officers in the past few days.

He added that the team was stationed there to intercept and arrest members of the gang. The officer also showed pictures of a white Corolla, which the supposed gang members used to steal or snatch the government officers’ car and claimed that Intizar’s car was similar to the one being used by the gang.

According to Khan, the ACLC officials suspected Intizar’s car of belonging to the gang and signalled him to stop, but he drove away, prompting the firing. He said CCTV footage shows three of the officials opened fire and added that eight of the nine on-duty officials have been detained, while efforts are being made for the arrest of one cop who is still at large.

Khan further said that they registered an FIR on the complaint of the victim’s father, who has expressed some reservations, and assured police would address those concerns during the investigation.

Remand

A local court has accepted the seven-day physical remand of the eight ACLC officials detained in the case, including SHO Tariq Mehmood.

SHO Mehmood, Ghulam Abbas, Tariq Raheem, Azhar Ahsan, Fawad Khan, Danial, Bilal and Shahid were produced before the judicial magistrate (South) on Monday.

The investigation officer (IO) informed the court that the eight men were accused of being involved in the murder of Intizar and requested a 14-day physical remand so that they could be interrogated.

However, the defense attorney opposed the IO’s plea stating that the accused had a different view about the incident but the complainant [the victim’s father] had directly accused them of murdering Intizar.

The attorney requested the court to grant remand only for the purpose of investigation in accordance with the relevant law. The court then approved a seven-day remand. The ACLC officials were initially held for violating the standard operating procedure as they were they in plain-clothes and used the personal weapons in the firing.