KARACHI: Suspect’s remand extended in PIDC blast case
By A Reporter
KARACHI, July 28: An Anti-Terrorism Court on Saturday extended the judicial remand of a suspect, Abdul Hameed Bugti, till Aug 15. He is accused of having masterminded the PIDC bomb blast.
Judge Haq Nawaz Baloch of the ATC-5 ordered the police to produce the accused with a complete charge-sheet on the next date of hearing.
Special Public Prosecutor Mohammad Mazhar Qayyum informed the court that charges against the accused could not be framed because the original file of the case was in the Sindh High Court. He said the case could be processed only after the availability of the file which, he said, was transferred when the two brothers, Mangla Khan and Aziz Khan, submitted their appeals against a court verdict against them.
Bugti was arrested on June 29 in the Garden police limits by the Anti-Violent Crimes Cell, which has been renamed as Anti-Violent Crimes Unit. Mangla Khan and Aziz Khan have already been convicted in the PIDC blast case.
The blast ripped though the ground floor of the building, killing four private security guards and wounding 21 other people on Nov 15, 2005.
It caused extensive damage to a fast-food outlet and some bank branches on the ground floor and offices on the upper floors.
At least 25 vehicles were destroyed and eight others were damaged while windowpanes of the adjoining buildings, including a five-star hotel and Dawood Centre, were shattered.
The PIDC House is a multi-storey building also housing offices of the Pakistan Petroleum Limited.
The two brothers were condemned to death on each count of murder and sentenced to 10 years in jail on each count of injuring people.
They were also sentenced, under Section 3 of the Explosive Act, 1908, to life in jail for possessing and using the explosive material.
Brahmdakh Bugti, a grandson of the late Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti, Salim Bugti and Abdul Majeed Bugti have been declared proclaimed offenders in the case.
