25 June 2004	Friday	06 Jamadi-ul-Awwal 1425

KARACHI, June 24: The district and sessions judge, West, Mohammed Javed Alam, granted bail to Orangi Town's nazim, who was reportedly re arrested immediately after his release from jail on Friday last.

The judge granted Mohammed Shahid Alam, better known as Guddu Bihari, the bail in sum of Rs100,000, in the case registered by Pakistan Bazaar police. The nazim, being represented by Shahadat Awan advocate, was booked in two fresh cases by Pakistan Bazaar and Mominabad police.

One of the cases pertained to the seizure of a TT pistol from him, and the other pertained to an alleged attack on the house of acting nazim of Orangi Town. Mr Bihari had been booked in five different cases since his initial arrest in late February, this year, by the Anti-corruption Establishment.

Subsequently, he got bail in all the cases. However, the police again arrested him immediately after he was released on bail. His mother, Arisha Bano, sent telegrams to the Sindh High Court and other authorities seeking help for the release of her son.

SECTARIAN MURDER CASES: An eye-witness identified on Thursday two workers of the banned Lashkar-i-Jhangvi in a sectarian murder case before an anti-terrorism court.

Judge Haq Nawaz Baloch of the ATC-5 put off the hearing of the case after recording statement by the witness, Shiraz Ahmed, who claimed to have seen the two accused on the scene of the murder.

The LJ men, Ataullah and Mohammed Azam, are being prosecuted for killing Dr Raza Peerani on June 26, 2003, in Soldier Bazaar. Two motorcyclists had opened fire on the doctor as he got into his car after leaving his clinic.

Shiraz Ahmed told the court that he was working as a dispenser at the Shamsher Clinic run by Dr Peerani. He along with another dispenser, Tanveer Ahmed, came out of the clinic to see off the doctor.

The prosecution witness, who was also cross-examined by defence counsel M R Syed, deposed that a motorcycle stopped beside the driver's seat of the car, as the doctor got into it.

Identifying the two accused with their specific role in the murder, he said Mohammed Azam was driving the bike with Ataullah as pillion rider. The PW had earlier identified the two accused during an identification parade before a judicial magistrate.

Later, special public prosecutor examined police Inspector Ehsan Malik, who was the first investigation officer in the case. The same court put off the hearing of another sectarian murder case against the two workers of the Lashkar-i-Jhangvi after recording the statements of three prosecution witnesses.

The PWs, Dr Riyaz Hussain, Dr Nadeem Noor and Abdur Rahman, were also cross-examined by the defence counsel. The two accused, being tried inside the Central Prison, have been charged with the killing of a factory owner on November 15, 2001, in the limits of Korangi Industrial Area police.

The victim, Syed Hasan Abidi, was going to his factory, along with his accountant Amir Abbas, in his car. As he slowed down the car on a speed-breaker, two attackers on a motorbike opened fire on them.

Mr Abidi died instantly, while Abbas suffered bullet wounds. The KIA police had registered the case initially against unknown assailants on the complaint of the wounded accountant. The judge fixed Friday for the next hearing of the two cases.