RAWALPINDI: The New Town circle DSP was suspended, while the SSP (operations) was served a letter of displeasure for allegedly misleading senior police officers about a raid and exchange of gunfire with a man wanted by the police, resultingin the death of the suspect and injuring another man in Sadiqabad on Saturday.

According to the duty schedule, New Town DSP Malik Afsar was on night patrol duty on Saturday but did not turnup for the patrol until relatives of the victim placed the body of the deceased on Murree Road and protested against the police at around 1:30am about three hours after an alleged `encounter` between the police and the suspect in Sadigabad.

Rawalpindi Regional Police Officer (RPO) Mohammad Sultan Raja was allegedly kept in the dark by the DSP and SSP (operations) for several hours, and only learned of the incident when Murree Road was blocked by protesters after midnight even though the incident itself occurred at 10:30pm.

SSP (Operations) Irfan Tariq Khan was serving as the acting city police officer (CPO) in the absence of CPO Israr Ahmed Abbasi on Saturday, when a police team raided the home of a suspect in a murder case and fired at people in the house, killing Syed Zahid Abbas and injuring Syed Osama.Police claimed that the raid, which senior police officials called `ill-planned`, was conducted to arrest a man allegedly involved in a brawl with a milkman in the Sadigabad area.

A senior police officer said the suspect could have been arrested without a single shot being fired and without the loss of life, if the police had done their homeworl( before setting out for a raid.

After Abbas` killing, his relatives protested against the police and placed the body of the deceased on Murree Road, leading to the registration of a murder and an attempted murder case against the police team, including the then Sadiqabad station house ofñcer (SHO).

Three days after the case was registered, none of the officials booked in Abbas` murder by the Sadigabad police had been arrested.

Taking notice of the incident, theinspector general of Punjab police (IGP) suspended DSP Afsar for misleading senior police officers, while the Rawalpindi RPO served SSP Khan with a letter of displeasure for his negligence and failure to handle the situation.

According to sources, the SSP operations did not visit the scene of the crime or Murree Road until the RPO took notice of the matter.

The senior police officer said a report containing the factual situation and the roles of the DSP and SSP were also sent to the IGP Punjab.

The most worrying aspect for the senior police officials was that the police raiding party fled during the raid on the suspect`s home.

The RPO has appointed Potohar Superintendent of Police Syed Ali as the inquiry officer for a fact-finding inquiry to fix responsibility and submit a report with the RPO within two days.