Driver released as police fail to make headway in fatal accident probe

ISLAMABAD: Investigators are making efforts to identify the man who was driving the Lexus, which hit a car on Srinagar Highway, killing four people on Monday night, sources told Dawn on Wednesday.

Police, however, released the driver of the vehicle as he was not nominated in the case.

Officers of the capital police told Dawn that the injured car passenger, Mujeebur Rehman, had actually named Federal Ombudsperson for Protection against Harassment of Women Kashmala Tariq’s son Azlan in the FIR.

Her son, however, obtained bail before arrest. He appeared in the court of Additional Sessions Judge Mohammad Sohail, who granted him bail before arrest against surety bond of Rs50,000 till Feb 16.

The police had arrested the vehicle’s driver after he confessed to having been on the wheels of the vehicle when the accident occurred.

Speaking at a press conference, Kashmala Tariq denied her son was driving the vehicle that hit the car. She said she and her husband were travelling in the vehicle driven by their driver that crashed into the Mehran car.

She said her son was travelling in another vehicle driven by another driver and demanded that the footage of the Safe City Project be released to prove her son’s innocence.

The investigators also examined the CCTV footages of the Safe City Project Islamabad cameras to identify the Lexus driver, but the footages were not clear.

Majority of the CCTVs do not have night vision cameras and even if they had their picture, the quality was not up to the mark, the police investigators said.

They said they had examined footages of cameras installed at the toll plaza by the Frontier Works Organisation (FWO) but Lexus had an e-tag and it crossed the toll plaza with such a speed that cameras could not properly capture the footage of the man driving the vehicle. Speed limit on the highway is 80km per hour, they said, adding that examination of CCTV footage of the camera installed at G-11signal revealed that the Mehran car was moving at an average speed, whereas the Lexus was at a high speed.

The investigators also approached the Islamabad Traffic Police to ascertain the speed of the Lexus, they said.

There was no speed camera installed on Srinagar Highway, however, the ITP would ascertain the speed of the vehicle through the available footages.

The investigators will focus on circumstantial evidence, besides taking statements of the complainant and witnesses. They will also record statements of the riders of the Lexus, and the man nominated in the FIR, besides other persons riding on different vehicles of the family’s motorcade.

“It is a test case for the police, as the complainant has nominated a man, but another man claiming that he drove the vehicle,” Supreme Court Advocate Shaikh Ahsanuddin told Dawn.

The investigators should investigate the case on merit and properly to ascertain who was driving the vehicle no matter if the driver had confessed to having hit the car.

It will set a trend, he said, adding that if the police relied on the driver’s confession, it will result into serious consequences.