KARACHI: Former LTF chief wants case shifted to Karachi: Brohi encounter
KARACHI, July 6: The sacked chief of the now disbanded Lyari Task Force, Chaudhry Aslam, and two other officers involved in the Mashooq Barohi encounter case approached the Sindh High Court to transfer their trial from the Nawabshah sessions judge to a Malir sessions judge.
An application for the transfer of the case was filed after the SHC order that quashed a police investigation report on the Mashooq Brohi encounter case with a directive to the Inspector-General of Sindh Police to constitute a team of senior police officers for reinvestigation of the alleged encounter.
The former LTF chief claimed that he had killed notorious dacoit Mashooq Brohi in a police encounter on July 12, 2006, in the limits of the Gadap police station. However, the claim was rejected by investigation officers and subsequently an inquiry was ordered by the Sindh IGP.
A case against police officials of the LTF, who took part in the encounter, was also registered by the Sakrand police station on July 12 last year on the complaint of Lal Bibi, wife of Rasool Bukhsh Brohi who was identified as the notorious criminal, Mashooq Brohi, by the LTF.
It was alleged that the LTF arrested Rasool Bukhsh from his house in Sakrand and later killed him in a fake encounter in Gadap.
The former LTF chief and other senior police officers are facing a trial on murder charges before the Sessions Court in Nawabshah in the case.
The suspended Superintendent of Police Chaudhry Aslam, DSP Irfan Ali Bahadur and Shershah SHO Syed Safdar Ali Shah filed the application under Section 526 of CrPC for the transfer of the case. The applicants submitted that it was a settled principle of law that a case and a counter-case are tried at one court to avoid any conflict of judgment.
The applicants’ counsel, M. Ilyas Khan and Muhammad Farooq, submitted that the cases should be concluded at one forum as it ensured convenience of parties, witnesses and resulted in avoidance of a conflict of decisions.
The matter is to be taken up on Friday before Justice Sarmad Jalal Osmany of the Sindh High Court.—PPI
