A court remanded three suspects, including two policemen, in judicial custody in a case pertaining to theft of over Rs20 million from the Artillery Maidan police station’s malkhana after it was informed that all the stolen amount had been recovered from them.
Constables Muhammad Shehbaz and Raheel, along with their friend Syed Aziz Shah, have been arrested for allegedly stealing the cash from the police station’s storage facility. The investigating officer produced the suspects before the judicial magistrate-XIV (South) on completion of their remand and stated that CCTV footage showed that they were involved in stealing Rs20,775,000 from the police station’s malkhana. He said Shehbaz was arrested on October 15 and Rs5 million were recovered from his possession.
During interrogation, the IO said, the cop confessed to having committed the crime and disclosed the names of his accomplices — Raheel and Aziz—who were arrested later. An amount of Rs6 million was taken back from Aziz and over Rs7.2 million from Raheel.
He said the remaining amount was found during a raid on the house of an aunt of Shahbaz in the Garden area. The investigating officer said that though the entire amount had been recovered, the suspects were required to be interrogated further to discover who was behind them, and demanded that their physical remand be extended until October 29.
The magistrate, however, turned down the IO’s request and sent the suspects to jail. The IO was told to file a charge sheet against them on the next date. An FIR was registered at the Artillery Maiden police station under sections 380 (theft in dwelling house, etc.), 457 (Lurking house-trespass or house-breaking by night in order to commit offence punishable with imprisonment) and 34 (common intention) of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC).
Following suspect Shahbaz’s confession, the investigating officer removed 409 (criminal breach of trust by public servant) from the case. The stolen amount was recovered and stored as case property in the malkhana. It belonged to a jeweller from Lahore, who was robbed of the cash in February.
