BAHAWALNAGAR: Some local traders have accused police of trappingtheminafalsecaseandrequested the inspector general of police (IGP) to take notice.

Dealing in electric cable business, Muhammad Imran Mubeen and Saleem Naseeb told Dawn they had hired a labourer, Waheed Ahmad, who suf fered injuries af ter he accidentally fell from a pole during work in Madni Colony in the limits of B-Division police. They said they bore all medical expenses of Ahmad and financially supported his f amily.

Meanwhile, A-Division SHO SubInspector Saifullah Hanif, who has a tainted service record, started pressing them to pay one million rupees to Fauzia, the wife of Ahmad.

The woman filed a writ petition for registering a case against them where she deliberately made the A-Division SHO a party instead of the B-Division SHO.

When the court instructed the A-Division police to submit a report, the SHO concealed the jurisdiction issue and said the accused did notappear before the police despite repeated summons.

The traders, however, said their presence could be verified from the CCTV footage of the A Division police station.

The court ordered the A Division police to lodge a case against them.

When the traders refused to pay money, SI Hanif sent the case to the B Division police.

They said B-Division SHO Mahar Jabbar booked them in a case under section 337H of PPC without investigating the matter and ignored a stay order they had obtained from the Lahore High Court, Bahawalpur Bench, issued against the local court.

Later, the B-Division police discharged the case in three days after SHO Mahar Jabbar and IO Paraz Aslam received Rs0.3 million bribe in the name of financially supporting the complainant, they said.

The traders alleged that SI Hanif again started threatening them with dire consequences when they filed a complaint against both the SHOs on Nov 28 and demanded the DPO take notice of the matter.

The counsel for traders Imran and Saleem declared the case was anexample of abuse of power and clear violation of the procedure devised for petition of 22-A CrPC. Neither the parties were produced before the district complaint of ficer/SP Investigation nor did he submit his comments to the courtasperprocedure,he added.The B-Division SHO did not attend calls for a comment.

A-Division SHO Saifullah Hanif denied allegations and insisted the jurisdiction of another police station was not a crime. He further claimed that he had not directed the B-Division police to register the case, however, they did it after the SP Investigation approved his report and forwarded it to the B-Division police.

Rejecting his statement, acting DPO and SP Investigation Farooq Anwar told Dawn that no one had sent any comments or report over the matter to his office for approval. He said DSP Legal Asif Saeed was looking into the matter and any official found involved in any wrongdoing would be dealt with according to the law.

On the other hand, Mureed Ali, father of the injured labourer, confirmed to Dawn that they had been compensated by the owners of Naseeb Cables in July.