RAWALPINDI: Police investigating the purported targeted killing of an ex-MPA in Rawalpindi have placed four suspects, including PML-N Senator Chaudhry Tanveer and MNA Daniyal Chaudhry, on the Provincial National Identification List (PNIL) to prevent them from leaving the country.

A senior police official confirmed that the names of suspects named in the FIR had been placed on PNIL to prevent them from going abroad as they will be included in the murder investigation in light of the statements of the two suspected shooters. Besides the two arrests of suspected shooters Danish Bhatti and Junaid, the police have also detained the father of one of them who was reportedly aware of the murder plan, the sources said.

Chaudhry Muhammad Adnan, 48, an independent candidate in the Feb 8 elections was assassinated by unidentified motorcycle riders outside the Police Lines Headquarters on February, 12, while he was on his way to his Jhanda Chichi road residence from Kutchery Chowk in Rawalpindi.

The murder occurred in the Civil Lines area, which has already been declared as the ‘red zone’ in the garrison city. After the registration of the FIR by Chaudhry Nadeem Iqbal, brother-in-law of the deceased, the police launched an investigation to arrest the culprits. According to the complainant, Chaudhry Adnan was on his way to his residence in a black SUV with his aides, after negotiating a land issue at a housing society office.

When his vehicle stopped at a traffic light near Jinnah Park, two unidentified persons wearing ‘shalwar kameez’ came close to the driving seat and started shooting at him. The FIR said that the ex-MPA was hit in the neck, face, and other body parts while the assailants sped off on their motorcycle which was parked across the road. Chaudhry Adnan lost his life while being shifted to the Benazir Bhutto Hospital by the emergency service staff of Rescue 1122.

The FIR had named PML-N lawmakers Chaudhry Tanveer and Daniyal Chaudhry, Osama Tanveer, and Chaudhry Chengaiz Khan.

Two ‘shooters’ arrested

During the course of the probe, the police detained two suspected ‘shooters’ after tracing the motorcycle that was used in the crime and sent both to jail for the identification parade on Thursday.

According to sources, the two suspects were arrested by the police in Karachi and brought to Rawalpindi. The arrests materialised after the police traced the motorcycle they had used in the killing of ex-MPA Chaudhry Adnan.

Following the investigation into the murder case, the police sent a request to the authorities concerned for placing the names of four people accused of the murder to place their names on the PNIL to prevent them from leaving the country. Subsequently, the names of PML-N Senator Chaudhry Tanveer Khan, Daniyal Chaudhry, Osama Tanveer, and Chaudhry Chengaiz Khan were placed on the no-fly list. The police also claimed to have “obtained important information [from ‘shooters] which could lead them to the mastermind of the murder”.

Published in Dawn, March 4th, 2024