RAWALPINDI, Sept 24: A police subinspector (SI) was demoted to the rank of constable for sending wrong blood samples for laboratory test, raiding a wedding ceremony illegally and declaring a murder suspect as innocent.

The action was taken by City Police Officer (CPO) Bilal Siddique Kamyana on September 23 af ter a report was submitted to him against the SI, Ameer Gondal.

According to the police, a Punjab forensic science agency (PFSA) report in June 2012 revealed that blood samples collected from the crime scene in a murder case did not belong to the victim. Even the blood samples were not of a human.

The samples were collected by SI Gondal, the then in-charge of the Nasirabad police post and the investigating officer of the murder case of Amjad who was killed over a petty dispute on May 22, 2012.

Four persons Ijaz, Manzar, Khan Nawaz and Mumtaz were nominated in the case.The police said the investigating officer sent the blood samples to the PFSA 18 days after the murder.`The purpose of getting blood samples tested from the forensic science agency in Lahore is always to confirm whether the blood belonged to the victim and whether the victim had been killed at the crime scene or somewhere else,` a police official told Dawn.

He said after the laboratory report showed that the blood samples did not belong to the victim, his relatives protested and demanded of the then city police officer to change the investigating officer.

He said the intention of the IO to change the blood samples was apparently to destroy the investigation of the case and give benefit to the arrested suspects.

When contacted, CPO Kamyana confirmed that the police officer had sent non-human blood samples for analysis in the murder case.

Later, an inquiry conducted by Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Sardar Shahbaz found the sub-inspector guilty of sending wrong samples for the laboratory test. However, no departmental action was taken against him at that time.Earlier, on April 13, 2012, the sub-inspector had also swooped on a wedding ceremony, seized a large sum of money and booked the bridegroom after declaring the venue as a gambling den.

But an inquiry into the matter later showed that the SI had twisted the facts as he could not prove that the house was a gambling den.

In yet another murder case in Westridge on April 24, 2012, police arrested a suspect, Sikandar Hayat, but later Mr Gondal, who was the investigating officer, declared him innocent.

However, an investigation by Inspector Nasir Jamal Shah showed that SI Gondal had declared the suspect innocent after tampering with the case.

When Inspector Shah submitted his report along with the two other cases against the SI to CPO Kamyana, the latter on September 23 ordered a criminal case against the official. The CPO also ordered the demotion of the SI by three steps to the rank of constable for changing the blood samples, illegal raid on the wedding ceremony and declaring the murder suspect as innocent.