Lahore High Court Justice Mazhar Iqbal Sidhu on Monday directed Gujranwala Police to trace and recover two Sub-Divisional Officers (SDOs) of WAPDA by November 23, who were allegedly in the illegal custody of a Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) additional director.
The court was hearing habeas petition filed by Yousaf through his counsel Rafique for the recovery of WAPDA SDOs Muhammad Iqbal and Zulfiqar. Yousaf, who is a relative of SDO Zulfiqar, informed the court that the two SDOs had been arrested by FIA Additional Director Munawar Iqbal Ranjha on bogus allegations. Following that, their whereabouts were unknown.
Upon being summoned, the FIA official appeared in court on Monday and claimed that neither had he arrested the SDOs, nor were they in his custody. Yousaf’s advocate said a few days ago an anonymous letter had been written to the LHC, using the SDOs names and alleging that LHC clerks and Justice Sidhu had been bribed for fixing the petition for their recovery at the earliest. The judge took serious notice of the revelation and had the FIA director arrested for levelling allegations against the LHC judge and staff. Later on, he was handed over to the LHC security staff for detention till court closed.
Meanwhile, he also passed orders for summoning on short notice two Station House Officers (SHOs) from the Gujranwala Police region. Upon reaching the court within three hours the SHOs informed the court that they had not registered FIRs on the applications because during the initial probe it had been known that the SDOs were in FIA custody. The court ordered the two SHOs to use all resources to recover the SDOs and to produce them in court within three days. Though the judge released the FIA additional director, he was ordered to deposit surety bonds of Rs 500,000 against his release on November 23, the next hearing.
