Lahore police plan to detain families of dons to ‘pre-empt expected clash’
LAHORE: The police department has decided to detain under 3 Maintenance of Public Order (MPO) the families of the underworld dons — Khwaja Gulshan alias Teefi Butt and slain Ameer Balaj Tipu — following the reports regarding emerging threats of a new gang war in Lahore.
The Organised Crime Unit (OCU) Lahore has prepared a proposal to be sent to the Punjab IG through the Lahore capital city police officer (CCPO) in order to seek detention orders of many members of the families of both the rival groups.
Talking to this reporter, DIG (OCU) Imran Kishwar said: “We have drafted the proposal and will send it in a day or two.”
An official privy to the development said that many reports suggested that the killing of three people so far in connection with the decades-old rivalry between Teefi Butt and Tipu families may lead to a new gang war in the provincial capital.
JIT formed to probe recent murder of Teefi’s brother-in-law
He said it started when young Ameer Balaj Tipu was allegedly murdered in a wedding ceremony at Chuhng in January this year while his friend Ahsan Shah, who leaked information of his movement, was killed in an encounter with the OCU team.
The official said the murder of Teefi Butt’s brother-in-law Javed Butt and injuries to his sister in an armed attack some days back further ‘added fuel to the fire’, bringing the two families on the verge of clash when Javed Butt’s son nominated Balaj’s brother in the murder case.
“In order to prevent more loss of lives in the expected gang war between the families of the two underworld dons, the OCU came up with a proposal to detain many members of both sides under 3 MPO”, the police official said.
The clause 1 of the 3 MPO states, “The government, if satisfied that with a view to preventing any person from acting in any manner prejudicial to public safety or the maintenance of public order, it is necessary so to do, may, by an order in writing, direct the arrest and detention in such custody as may be prescribed under sub-section (7), of such person for such period as may, subject to the other provisions of this section, be specified in the order, and government, if satisfied that for the aforesaid reasons it is necessary so to do, may, extend from time to time the period of such detention, for a period not exceeding six months at a time”.
The official said the OCU officials have marked many relatives of both families keeping in view their tendency towards possible involvement in armed attacks against each other. He said initially the detention orders may be for a period of 30 days or so and the period may be extended further, if and when, required.
The detention orders would be obtained from the deputy commissioner by sending the request through the Punjab home department, he said. In the related development, he said IG Dr Usman Anwar has constituted a Joint Investigation Team (JIT) in the wake of the murder of Teefi Butt’s brother-in-law.
The decision was taken in light of the recent reservations shown by Teefi Butt’s brother Khwaja Azhar Gulshan who alleged that some OCU officials (inspector to DSP rank) were giving favour to the family of slain Ameer Balaj Tipu.
Following his allegations, the official said the OCU team took Azhar Gulshan into custody the other day and then released him after detailed negotiations with him on the matter of his accusations.
The JIT would be headed by the Model Town investigation SP while the two DSPs and a senior officer from the OCU would be the members.
There were also reports that a police official serving in OCU Shakeel Butt has been placed under suspension following the allegations of his close association with the Balaj family.
To a question about the alleged killers of Javed Butt, he said the police were apparently in the dark about the identity of the shooters and trying to explore many options to trace and arrest him.
Published in Dawn, September 6th, 2024