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| July 26, 2005 | Tuesday | Jumadi-us-Sani 18, 1426 |
Star’s reporter faces murder attempt case
KARACHI, July 25: Police on Monday registered a case of attempt to murder against Mr Rasheed Channa, a reporter of The Star, who had been set free from police custody late on Sunday night after 12-hour detention. Mr Channa had been picked up from his Defence Housing Society residence at around 1.30pm. A senior police officer of the investigation wing had admitted to having detained him and said that the matter was “politically motivated”. He was not charged until his release late on Sunday night.
Police registered the case at the Sachal police station charging Mr Channa with attempting to kill Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Chishtie. An investigator said that an FIR (233/05) had been registered at the police station on the complaint of Maulana Chishtie.
The complainant stated in the FIR that his wife had filed a case of divorce which was pending in a court. He alleged that on July 23 Mr Channa, along with his associates, intercepted him in Block-8 of Gulistan-i-Jauhar, and tried to kill him. Later, Maulana Chishtie said that Mr Channa warned him that if he did not settle the dispute with his wife he could be killed.
The police officer claimed that Mr Channa had been picked up on Sunday for investigation into the case registered against him. However, Mr Channa disputed the claim and said that he had not been informed about any case registered against him during custody till his release late on Sunday night. He said that he received a phone call from the Sachal police station on Monday afternoon and the caller, who identified himself as a police official, told him that he could be arrested any time in the attempt to murder case.
According to a statement issued by the management of the Dawn Group on Monday, unofficial sources informed Mr Hameed Haroon, the Chief Executive Officer of the Dawn Group of Newspapers, at 6pm on Sunday that Mr Channa was being detained in one of the local police lock-ups and would be released soon.
The direct order for Mr Channa’s abduction was reportedly issued by the secretary to the chief minister. Since the chief minister was not in Karachi at the time of Mr Channa’s abduction, the secretary had refused to sanction Mr Channa’s release unless the chief minister directly authorized him to do so.
The chief minister arrived in Karachi at around midnight and Mr Channa was released two hours later. After his release, Mr Channa informed Mr Haroon that he had been mentally harassed in the safe house of a local police station and that no food or water had been provided to him from the time of his arrest at 1.30pm till approximately 9.30pm.
He was subsequently informed about his impending release but a further two hours lapsed before he was delivered under police escort to Mr Haroon’s residence.
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