KARACHI : Prosecution witnesses testify in murder case
By A Reporter
KARACHI, Sept 15: An anti-terrorism court on Saturday recorded the depositions of three police officials appearing as prosecution witnesses in the case of Allama Mufti Ateeq-ur-Rehman and his brother Irshad, who were killed while travelling in a Suzuki van in the Preedy police station limits on June 23, 2005.
FIR No 315/05 was registered at the Preedy police station under Sections 302, 324 and 427/34 of the Pakistan Penal Code.
Judge Haq Nawaz Baloch of ATC-V, who is conducting the trial, recorded the statement of assistant sub-inspector Raja Masood Ahmed against the accused man, Hammad Raza, and absconding co-accused Syed Mohammed Askari.
Mr Ahmed was the duty officer when the crime was committed and submitted a statement regarding the location of the incident and the post-mortem findings.
He told the court about the vehicle in which the victims had been travelling and that used 9mm cartridge shells had been recovered from the site.
Assistant sub-inspector Nadeem Haider told the court that Irshad sustained serious bullet wounds in the incident and was taken to hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries. He added that Mufti Ateeq-ur-Rehman’s son Amaar was also injured but survived.
Assistant sub-inspector Shabir Ahmed said he had witnessed the March 9, 2007, interrogation during which Hammad Raza had confessed to his crime.
The judge asked the Special Public Prosecutor, Mohammad Mazhar Qayyum, to produce the rest of the witnesses on September 17, the next date of hearing.
The accused was indicted on September 12, 2007, but pleaded not guilty and opted to contest the case.
Kidnap case
An anti-terrorism court on Saturday recorded the deposition of a prosecution witness in the kidnapping for ransom case of Ms Shahida and her son Zahid, who were abducted from a factory in the limits of the Khwaja Ajmir Nagri police station on June 20, 2007.
Judge Abdul Ghafoor Memon of ATC-II, who is conducting the trail, recorded the statement of the witness Ms Shazia, who was earlier arrested by the police in connection with the investigation of the case and later released.
Maqbool Ahmed and Ghulam Qasim are accused in the case, and are currently in judicial custody. They face charges of kidnapping Ms Shahida for a Rs800,000 ransom.
Ms Shazia told the court that she worked in the factory with the kidnap victim. “I was arrested on the complaint of Shahida’s relatives but I clarified my position and was released,” she said.
According to her statement, the police had played an audio recording of the ransom demand and asked whether she could identify the kidnappers’ voices. She stated that she had recognised the voices of the accused men, Maqbool Ahmed and Ghulam Qasim, who also worked in the same factory.
The men were arrested during raids conducted at their residences and Ms Shahida and her two and a half-year-old son Zahid were recovered.
The judge asked Special Public Prosecutor Niamat Ali Randhawa to produce the rest of prosecution witnesses on Sept 17, the next date of hearing.
