Probe against cops who kidnapped newspaper worker underway

ABBOTTABAD: A deputy superintendent of police has been entrusted with an internal inquiry into an incident in which two officials of Mirpur Police Station, Abbottabad picked up a worker of a local newspaper Tuesday night in a van and demanded Rs25,000 for his release.
According to the editor of the local daily, one of his workers Daniyal was forcibly picked up from the Mansehra Road on the night of July 7 in a private vehicle by constables Yasir and Waqas when he was on his way home after finishing his work.
Later, the constables in civvies asked him to arrange Rs25,000 for his freedom or face the consequences. They allowed him to call only one number from his mobile phone.Frightened, Daniyal called one of his friends to arrange the amount to secure his release. His friend called his acquaintance Fayyaz, who is a rider of Cantt Police Station.
Fayyaz called on Daniyal’s phone number and was told by his captors to send money through “Easy Paisa” so that Daniyal is freed. They were told that it was impossible to remit the money via “Easy Paisa” as it was too late and no shop was open.
Fayyaz and his friend were directed to reach a petrol station on Mansehra road and hand over the ‘ransom’ amount to the driver of a pickup who will be carrying a bottle of soft drink and hanging his hand out of vehicle’s window as a signal. The policemen of Sikanderabad checkpost were alerted by then. As soon as the pickup reached near the petrol station, police officials overpowered the driver and took him to the police post.
After interrogating and getting information from the driver, the police recovered Daniyal from Siaan Da Katha village within the jurisdiction of Mirpur Police Station. However, the constables weren’t arrested.
The matter was brought the next morning to the notice of District Police Officer (DPO) Abbottabad Sher Akbar Khan who appointed Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Cantt Abdul Aziz Afridi as an inquiry officer to probe the incident.
When asked by The News whether the constables had been suspended, Aziz Afridi replied in the negative by saying that suspension was no punishment.“Once the inquiry is completed and the police officials are found guilty, they will be dealt with the severest punishment according to Police Rules and under relevant law,” he said.
The Abbottabad Police generally enjoys good reputation. However, police excesses such as the above are being committed by some black sheep in the department for the past many months and have gone unnoticed. This is the test case for the high-ups of Abbottabad Police as to how they deal with such elements who are earning bad name for the entire department.