January 5, 2006	Thursday	Zilhaj 4, 1426

KARACHI, Jan 4: An anti-terrorism court adjourned on Wednesday the hearing of a bomb blast case against four workers of the banned Jundullah group after recording the deposition of a prosecution witness.

Judge Feroze Mehmood Bhatti of the ATC-2 fixed Jan 6 for the next hearing after the statement of Judicial Magistrate Rajab Ali Shar, who had conducted the identification parade of the four accused.

Ataur Rehman, Shahzad Bajwah, Danish Imam and Uzair Ahmed, represented by defence counsel M R Syed, have been charged with carrying out the blast, which also claimed the life of a man.

According to prosecution, the accused planted bomb in a stolen Suzuki Margalla (AB-0657) and parked it near Marina Club on Zulfiqar Street in Defence Housing Authority on April 10, 2004. The bomb went off at 10:30pm and three occupants of a Toyota Corolla (ABJ-020) were injured. One of the injured, Farrukh Zareen Khan Afridi, died on way to hospital. The two other injured were Muzaffar Gobi and his cousin Abu Sufiyan.

Accused Shahzad Bajwa had allegedly snatched the Margalla from Rashid Ali Khan in Gulshan-i-Iqbal hours before the bomb blast.

The prosecution, represented by special public prosecutor Maula Bux Bhatti, has so far examined nine, out of total 25 prosecution witnesses.

BAIL EXTENDED: The provincial anti-corruption court, headed by Judge Arjun Ram Talreeja, extended the bail of former chief of the Karachi Building Control Authority, Brig (Retd) S. A. Nasir, till Jan 23 in a corruption case.

The judge also ordered the Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE) to submit the final charge-sheet in case.

Brig Nasir was granted bail by the Sindh High Court in the case initially registered against Akhlaq Ahmed, controller of KBCA, and his personal assistant Moin Ahmed. The two KBCA officials were arrested on Oct 24 for their involvement in irregularities and corruption in the affairs of Karachi Building Control Authority.

It was alleged that Akhlaq Ahmed had retired from his service in 2001. He was given an extension of two years which had also expired but he continued to work in the office.

The ACE investigation also showed that Akhlaque Ahmed had possessed an apartment

on 6th floor in Al-Mashriq Centre near the Civic Centre where all illegal deals were made.