Inquiry terms police raid on trader’s home in Karachi’s Orangi Town as ‘heinous crime’

An inquiry into a police raid on a trader’s residence in Karachi’s Orangi Town area has found that the operation was “conducted in an unprofessional manner with mala fide intentions”, terming it a “heinous crime”, it emerged on Wednesday.

Two officers privy to the development had told Dawn that a team of South police, led by Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Umair Tariq Bajari, carried out a raid on the trader’s residence in Orangi Town on Sunday night.

The police team took away a hefty amount of cash, jewellery and the digital video recorder to remove the CCTV footage during the raid, according to the officers. However, they were exposed with the help of the footage of other CCTV cameras installed in the street.

The incident, which sparked an outrage on social media, had prompted Sindh Inspector General of Police (IGP) Riffat Mukhtar to set up an inquiry team, led by West Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG) Asim Khan, tasking the inquiry body to investigate the conduct of the South police on Sunday night in Orangi Town, where they allegedly entered a house and took away money and jewellery.

The officials had said that DIG Khan had submitted a detailed report to the IGP and both South Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Imran Qureshi and DSP Bajari were removed in the light of the findings of the probe.

The DSP was remanded in physical custody for one day earlier today by a local court.

The inquiry report, obtained by Dawn.com today, said: “It is evident that the raid was conducted in an unprofessional manner with mala fide intentions. The deliberate concealment of actual facts and the casual approach towards such a task reflects that the officer DSP (UT) is directly responsible for this illegal/criminal act along with his staff and private informers.”

The inquiry officer also took the senior officers to task for their purported negligence in monitoring their subordinate officers.

Thus in view of all the “facts, evidence and statements”, the DIG recommended that strict departmental/legal action be taken against DSP Bajari for his “direct involvement in such a heinous crime along with private persons involved in criminal activities”.

It further said that the DSP was found involved in “similar illegal/criminal activities” in the jurisdiction of Darakhshan police station and suggested a “separate inquiry” against him regarding these actions.

The report also recommended strict legal action against the individuals who participated in the robbery at the house of the complainant, trader Shakir Khan.

It suggested that departmental action be taken against the DSP’s personal staff — police constables Khurram Ali and Faizan Ali — since they were attached with Bajari and involved in the raid.

“It is also recommended that appropriate action be taken against the District SSP South for not assigning the duty of conducting the raid to professionally trained police officers of District South Karachi,” the report concluded.

DSP remanded for a day

Earlier today, a local court remanded the DSP in a case about robbery during the raid.

The police brought DSP Umair Bajari to the court’s premises without handcuffs and produced him before a judicial magistrate for remand.

The investigating officer (IO) sought the DSP’s custody for questioning and further investigation of the case.

However, Bajari’s lawyer opposed the request and argued that neither his client was present at the crime scene nor any recovery was made from his possession.

The judicial magistrate handed over the suspect to the police on a one-day physical remand and directed the IO to produce him again at the next hearing along with a progress report.

The DSP and constables Khurram and Faizan, along with several other unidentified policemen and private persons, were named in a first information report (FIR) for allegedly raiding the house of the complainants on the night between Sunday night, holding their family hostage at gunpoint and taking away around Rs20 million and other valuables.

The case was lodged a day ago under Sections 342 (punishment for wrongful confinement), 365 (kidnapping), 395 (dacoity) and 452 (trespassing) of the Pakistan Penal Code at Pirabad police station.

The FIR further said that the suspects also took away the complainants, Shakir and his brother Amir, after the raid and subsequently released them near the Baloch Colony bridge.

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