Four officers of the A-Section police station in Nawabshah were arrested on Monday and booked after case property worth multimillion rupees was found missing from the station Maalkhana. The Maalkhana is the evidence store where a police station keeps goods seized in criminal cases. Station house officer Rana Jamshed, the officer in charge, lodged the case on behalf of the state against colleagues who had been responsible for the safe custody of that property. The loss came to light when the items were due to be taken to court.
Officers named in the case
The first information report (FIR), the formal complaint that opens a criminal case, names head munshi Faheem Haider Unnar, former head munshi Lal Mohammad Rind, and constables Saddam Hussain and Farhan Kamboh. In a police station, a munshi is the clerk who maintains records and looks after stored property. The SHO filed that report under Sections 409 and 34 of the Pakistan Penal Code, the country’s main criminal law. Section 409 covers criminal breach of trust by a public servant, while Section 34 is used when several accused are said to have shared a common intention.
The allegation is that property in official custody was not kept safe. The four men were both booked and arrested. Those steps open the case; they are not a court finding of guilt.
What was missing from the Maalkhana
Among the missing items was 52.5-tola gold jewellery, along with other valuables. The property as a whole was described as worth multimillion rupees. The available account gives no separate rupee value for the gold and no itemised list of the other valuables. Case property is kept so it can be shown when a court calls for it.
These valuables were meant to be produced before a court. On Monday, while that judicial order was being carried out, they could not be found in the Maalkhana. A search of the store followed, and reports say panic ran through the station as the force checked the room.
What happens next
The SHO said an investigation had been started. Because the FIR was lodged on behalf of the state, the matter is being pursued as a public case against the four policemen. There is no confirmation that the gold or the other valuables have been recovered. Investigators now have to trace how items kept for court production left the store and test the account of each officer who had charge of them.
Aasan alfaaz mein
Nawabshah ki A-Section police station ke Maalkhana se case ka saman gayab ho gaya hai. Is mein 52.5 tola sone ka zewar aur doosri qeemti cheezen shamil hain. Char police walon ko giraftar karke un par muqadma darj kiya gaya hai. Ye saman adalat mein pesh hona tha, is liye jinka maal wahan rakha tha unhein pareshani ho sakti hai.
