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KARACHI, Sept 15: An anti-terrorism court adjourned on Thursday the hearing of the corps commander’s convoy attack case against 11 workers of the banned Jundullah group after recording the statement of a prosecution witness.
Judge Feroze Mehmood Bhatti of the ATC-2 fixed Sept 19 for the next hearing after the deposition of Havaldar Zafar Abbas, who was also cross-examined by defence counsel M. R. Syed and Mushtaq Ahmed.
The prosecution witness deposed that he along with others members of the corps commander’s escort left from his unit for the residence of the corps commander around 8:15am. He said his party reached the corps commander’s residence around 8:25am.
The prosecution witness said that the motorcade of the corps commander was attacked from the front and the left side near the Clifton Bridge. He said six army personnel were killed and four others were injured.
The prosecution, represented by Iqtidar Ali Hashmi and Maula Bux Bhatti, has, so far, examined 22 prosecution witnesses.
Ataur Rehman alias Ibrahim, Shahzad Ahmed Bajwah, Yaqoob Saeed, Uzair Ahmed, Shoiab Siddiqui, Danish Inam, Najeebullah, Khurrum Saifullah, Shahzad Mukhtar, Khalid Rao and Adnan Shah alias Tipu have been charged with a series of offences, including attack on the motorcade of Lt-Gen Ahsan Saleem Hayat on June 10 last year on the old Clifton bridge, which resulted in the death of six army personnel, three policemen and a passerby.
Mohammed Qasim, Maaz, Shahab, Bilal, Tayyeb, Hammad and Fasih have been declared absconders.
MURDER-CUM-RANSOM CASE: An anti-terrorism court put off the hearing of a murder and kidnapping for ransom case of a six-year-old boy after recording the statement of the accused.
Judge Arshad Noor Khan of the ATC-3 fixed Sept 17 for the next hearing after the statement of accused Mohammed Tariq, who has been charged with murdering and kidnapping the six-year-old son of his wife’s brother Mohammed Raees, a scrap dealer.
The accused, who gave his statement on oath, stated that he was implicated in the case by police. He said three unknown persons had brought the body of the victim to his house on Jan 7 and buried it in house.
The accused had cited his wife as defence witness, who was present in the court. However, he requested the court to give her up as a prosecution witness. Special public prosecutor Naimat Ali Randhawa also cross-examined the accused.
The accused allegedly took away Mohammed Siddique in the evening on January 1 when he was playing outside his house in Korangi. At midnight, the alleged kidnapper strangled the boy as he did not stop crying for going back home. He allegedly buried the boy in his house and demanded Rs2 million from his brother-in-law as ransom on phone.
DIG ATTACK CASE: Judge Haq Nawaz Baloch of the ATC-5 formally indicted Bashir Ahmed Awan, who has been charged with attempting to murder the DIG Investigation, Karachi, Manzoor Mughal.
The judge fixed Sept 19 for recording the statement of the prosecution witnesses after the accused pleaded “not guilty”.
DIG investigation escaped unhurt from life attempt allegedly committed by the accused who came at the DIG’s office to submit his application.
The accused allegedly fired a bullet on the DIG but he narrowly escaped and the accused was arrested. An illegal pistol and live bullets were allegedly seized from his possession.
Bashir Awan was booked under Sections 452/353/324/506-B of the PPC and Section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act at Mithadar police station.
