‘Cops changed evidence in my husband’s case’

By Shahnawaz Khan

LAHORE: A UK-based Pakistani woman has alleged that Inspector Ali Imran Niazi, the main suspect in Derrick Cyprian’s murder, changed evidence in her husband’s murder case to help the culprits escape. Her husband was Station House Officer (SHO) at Defence police station and was murdered three years ago.

Deceased Muhammad Akram’s widow Riffat Akram told Daily Times on Thursday that West Yorkshire police had found malpractices in the case. She said that she had been demanding justice for the last three years.

Deceased’s brother Chaudhry Muhammad Anwar, who registered a case with Defence police on March 26, 2002, said that he went to Anwar’s house that day and found the doors locked. He said that the neighbours were complaining about an unpleasant smell from the house. Anwar and the police broke into the house and found Akram’s body in the bedroom. The police investigated and later declared that Akram had committed suicide and closed the case.

Riffat claimed that Inspector Niazi was the Defence Police Station SHO at that time and a close friend of her brothers-in-law Anwar and Aslam. She said that all of them were from Sahiwal and were relatives.

She said the FIR was fabricated and that the police had deleted evidence from the record. She said that she had contacted West Yorkshire police who had come to Pakistan to train the Azad Kashmir police.

She said that West Yorkshire police were told that the file had been closed, as it was a suicide case. The officer asked for an autopsy and demanded that the case be reopened but the police told them that only Riffat could request reopening the case. She returned to Pakistan on May 19, 2003. She alleged that the case file had been tampered with and its contents had changed dramatically, adding that there was no evidence that the case had been closed. On the contrary, backdated arrests and bail to two suspects had been recorded, she added.

Riffat said that she had repeatedly tried to reopen the case, but to no avail. She said that documents had been stolen from the deceased’s house. She asked the higher authorities to reopen her husband’s case.

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