A judge of District and Sessions Court Karachi Central has issued a summons to the station house officer Special Investigation Unit (SIU) Saddar and other police officials against separate constitutional applications filed by released detainees through their counsels for registering First Information Report (FIR).
According to contents of petitions, a well-known Pakistani sportsman and athlete Hussain Ahmed, along with his friends, was sitting at New Hassan Zai Restaurant near Metric Board Office, Nazimabad, during the night between 8 and 9 January 2022.
The applicant and his friends were taken by five to six cops and four to five civil armed persons at gunpoint and shifted to SIU Saddar Karachi with blindfolded condition.
The petitions further revealed that the said SIU team members started torturing, threatening and abusing the detained persons. Upon inquiry as to why the applicant and his friends were detained, the policemen said, “Don’t shout, don’t speak loudly and don’t be smart otherwise you would lose your tongue.”
The petition said that SHO SIU Shabbir Awan arrived later and told the petitioners that they had booked them, adding they would all be released if they paid ransom. He also threatened Ahmed against complaining to anyone or taking any legal action, saying he took directions of Additional Inspector General Police Ghulam Nabi Memon.
The police released Hussain Ahmed on the condition that he would arrange the negotiated amount of Rs3.6 million within a specific time and would hand over the said amount to them. Otherwise, he along with all detainees would either be murdered in any fake police encounter or booked in different crimes.
Hussain contacted his friend, arranged the said amount and handed it over to Awan. All detainees were released afterwards with threats, orders and instructions. An additional Rs0.6 million were charged for the release of the detainees’ mobile phones and other valuables including business papers with signatures on plain, written papers and stamp papers with thumb impressions.
The concerned courts have issued summons to kidnapper Shabbir Awan, Ismail, Mujahid and all involved culprits against separate Petition Numbers 586/2022, 587/2022, 863/2022, 916 and 1109.
The petitions also revealed that it had become the routine of SIU that they kidnapped people, and harassed, tortured them while demanding heavy ransom.
