KASUR: The citizens of Kasur who provided pieces of evidence to police regarding the suspect in Zainab Amin’s case are feeling insecure after they have been included among witnesses in the gruesome rape-cum-murder case as they cooperated with police on the condition that their names would be kept secret, Pakistan Today has learnt.
To apprehend the culprit Imran Ali, dozens of citizens took part in informing and providing evidence to the police. The major pieces of evidence which helped the law enforcement agencies to locate the culprit were the footages of CCTV cameras which were privately installed by people at their properties at different spots in the city.
For investigation purposes, over two dozen CCTV footages were observed among which five were helpful in identifying the culprit.
These CCTV cameras were installed by the owners of Knowledge Gate School, Babar electronics shop, Punjab Scholars School, Goga building material shop and Khaleel Bakers. Two of them – Knowledge Gate School and Babar electronics – are located in Road Kot area and fall under the premises of A-division police station, while other three CCTVs were installed at Peerwala Road which falls under the premise of Saddar Police Station.
The last CCTV camera was installed at a distance of 1.5km from Zainab’s home.
The names of those who provided these footages have, however, been included in the witnesses list by the police.
Talking to Pakistan Today, they said that they had cooperated with police under the condition of keeping keep their identity secret.
Babar Mehmood, the owner of Babar electronics, told Pakistan Today that he had provided footages of his cameras but later police also confiscated their digital video recorder (DVR) attached with the CCTV. “Initially police told us that DVRs would be returned soon but now they do not agree to give those back to us,” he said while adding, “It’s unfair to include our names among witnesses as we were told nobody will know about the source of footages.”
Babar said that if there was really an involvement of some mafia behind Kasur’s rape and murder cases, then it might be harmful to them.
According to a reliable source in Kasur police, these footages had been provided to police by the owners of CCTV cameras voluntarily. He confirmed that police has taken DVRs in its custody along other material as evidence.
Kasur police spokesman Sajid, while talking to Pakistan Today, said that police had not summoned or included anyone as a witness, rather it was done by the joint investigation team (JIT) probing the incident. He also said that police confiscated DVRs to present before JIT for further investigation.
He said that the owners should not be worried as their material will be returned soon after the completion of the investigation.