LAHORE: In Punjab Constabulary’s Abbas Police Line, situated on Bedian Road, upon accusations of bribes of Rs 15,000 per case being received and dozens of off-duty police officials being paid salaries on a regular basis, five officials including a line officer have been arrested; cases have been registered against them and Rs 1,000,000 worth of bribe money has been recovered, according to sources.
Punjab Constabulary’s commandant officer received information that Abbas Police Line’s Sub-Inspector Aurangzeb, Head Constable Asghar Ali, Faisal Mehmood, the IT in-charge Zulqarnain and Biometric Operator Saadiq, together formed a team, which allows several officials to stay home and be paid regular salaries, in return for a bribe of Rs 15,000.
This arrangement has been in place for a while. Commandant officer, upon learning about this, had secretly investigated the matter and realised that these officials are making close to Rs 100,000 every month from these bribes. In this regard, the commandant has suspended Line Officer Aurangzeb and appointed Zahid Muhammad in his place. Zahid had submitted a request for cases to be registered against the five colluding officials in the Defense Station, upon which, cases were filed with reference to 155-c and 162/163 and registered case no 343/17; bribe money worth Rs 1,000,000 was recovered as well.
According to case investigator Abid Ali, all five officials have admitted their wrongdoing. A list is also being prepared of police officials who remained off-duty. Further action will be taken against them subsequently.