September 19, 2007	Wednesday	Ramazan 06, 1428

RAWALPINDI, Sept 18: An additional district and sessions judge here on Tuesday ordered the Westridge police to book a retired army officer and his wife for murder.

Judge Chaudhry Imtiaz Ahmed directed the Westridge police SHO to register a criminal case against Col (retired) Khalid Mehmood and his wife for allegedly killing their 18-year-old cook, Syed Abrar Hussain, one month ago.

Mudassir Hussain, maternal uncle of Abrar Hussain, had moved the court on August 25 against the Westridge police SHO for not charging the couple with murder.

The petitioner stated that on August 12 he received a phone call from the colonel, who said that his nephew was seriously injured and admitted to the Rawalpindi General Hospital (RGH). When Mudassir reached the hospital he found his nephew dead.

A post-mortem was carried out at the District Headquarters (DHQ) hospital that revealed a head injury as the cause of the death.

The petitioner alleged that his nephew was killed by Khalid Mehmood, who suspected the boy of having illicit relations with his wife.

Mudassir said he approached the area police for registration of an FIR but he was not entertained. He even wrote to the CPO against the inaction of the SHO, who was asked by CPO to act according to the law but no action had been taken to date.

The widowed mother of the deceased on the last hearing sought the interference of President Pervez Musharraf and Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry for registration of a murder case against the accused, who had been pressurising her not to pursue the case.

She also claimed that a lawyer appointed for her legal help had backed off from professional duties under pressure from the accused.