AVCC chief summoned as court irked by no final report in suspect escape case

A District East judicial magistrate has summoned the senior superintendent of police (SSP) of the Anti-Violent Crime Cell (AVCC) over the absence of the investigation officer at the hearing of a case pertaining to the escape of the suspected kidnapper of Dua Mangi.

On January 27, Zohaib Qureshi, the main suspect in the Dua Mangi abduction case, had escaped from a shopping mall on Tariq Road. Later, the Ferozabad police booked a number of cops for taking the suspect to the shopping centre in a private car instead of taking him back to jail in a prisoner van, thereby providing him an opportunity to escape.

Magistrate Sheikh Abbas Mehdi noted that Inspector Nisar Awan of the AVCC had been tasked with carrying out the investigation into the case. He was served a show-cause notice over his failure to submit the final investigation report.

Neither did the IO submit the report nor did he appear in the court, the magistrate remarked, adding that letters were written to the SSP to ensure that he showed up in the court to submit the report but to no avail.

The court directed the SSP to appear in person along with the IO and a final report on June 28 (today) and warned that action would be taken against him in case of failure to comply with the court order.

Meanwhile, the magistrate issued a show-cause notice to the director of the Federal Investigation Agency’s (FIA) forensic division for failing to furnish a forensic report of mobile phones of the suspects.

He said the FIA was required to submit the forensic report on June 6 but it had failed to do so. The FIA official was told to appear in personal capacity to explain why legal proceedings under the sections 166, 173, 174, 175, and 176 of the Pakistan Penal Code should not be initiated against him for disobeying the court.

Dua was kidnapped from Defence Housing Authority in Karachi in November 2019. She was released after her father paid Rs500,000 to the kidnappers in ransom.