0
KARACHI, Jan 3: Justice Mohammed Ashraf Leghari of the Sindh High Court dismissed on Thursday a criminal revision application filed by a DSP of CIA Karachi, Saadullah Bangash, against the order of an additional district and sessions judge, Karachi South.
The applicant faces a murder case of Kalakot police station regarding the custodial killing/death of Abdul Jabbar in January 1999.
The deceased was taken into custody by a CIA police party, headed by DSP Saadullah Bangash. The deceased was allegedly tortured in custody and later died.
His mother filed an application for the registration of an FIR which the area police declined to register. She then filed a constitutional petition. Disposing of the petition, Justice Leghari issued directions for the registration of FIR after which an FIR 274/1999 was registered.
A case was submitted before the court concerned according to the FIR lodged by mother of the deceased. As all the accused were police officials, inordinate delay occurred in the submission of chargesheet which was submitted only after the court ordered strict compliance with its order.
Later, police submitted a supplementary challan about a month ago exonerating the DSP of the murder charge. The trial court concerned however refused to accept the same and held that it would proceed with the trial. The trial court also ordered arrest of the accused/applicant, Saadullah Bangash.
The accused/applicant impugned the said order before the SHC by filing a revision appeal.
The High Court judge on Thursday, after detailed hearing, disposed of the criminal revision application while directing the trial court to proceed with the trial and to examine the main witnesses within the next four months.
The judge also set the applicant at liberty to move an application for his acquittal before the trial court if the prosecution fails in furnishing sufficient evidence against him.
ACQUITTED: The accountability court-III, Karachi, headed by Judge Rehmat Husain Jaffery, acquitted six persons, including five officials of the Karachi Development Authority, in a reference regarding allotment of an amenity plot in violation of rules and regulations on the directives of then Sindh minister of housing and town planning (HTP) Pir Mazharul Haq.
However, the court would try the former minister upon his arrest.
The accused were Zulfiqar Ali, the allottee, former member finance KDA, Ghulam Haider Memon, Qazi Khalilur Rahman, executive engineer KDA, Shah Mohammed Balouch, accounts officer KDA, Agha Munir, assistant director KDA, and Naveed Ahmed, superintendent KDA.
The National Accountability Bureau sent reference No 43 of 2001 to the AC-III regarding misuse of official authority against all the accused.
It was the case of prosecution that the former HTP minister, in 1994-95, along with the other accused, had misused their official authority and allotted plot No ST 10 in Block 14 in Gulistan-i-Jauhar, Scheme 36, measuring 8,000 square yards to Zulfiqar Ali at the rate of Rs1,000 a square yard, though the actual rate was Rs2,000 a square yard, in violation of article 52-A of the KDA Ordinance of 1957 regarding conversion of amenity plot into commercial one causing a loss of eight million rupees to the exchequer.—APP/PPI
