June 19, 2008	Thursday	Jamadi-us-Sani 14, 1429

KARACHI, June 18: The provincial government opposed on Wednesday a petition moved by former provincial irrigation minister Nadir Akmal Leghari against re-investigation of a murder case in which he was earlier exonerated by police.In its comments submitted through Additional Advocate-General Masood A. Noorani, the government said an investigation into a criminal offence could be reopened and a fresh probe conducted if the investigation police believed that the case was wrongly discharged. Justices Mrs Yasmin Abbasy and Binyamin Khan, who constitute the division bench seized of the petition, took the comments on record and adjourned further proceedings to a date in office. The court had earlier barred the police from taking adverse action pending the hearing of the petition.

Mr Leghari submitted through Advocate Iqtidar Ali Hashmi that he was involved as an accused in an exchange of fire that occurred on February 18, election day, at Karo Leghari, Ghotki. Some people were killed in the clash and his rivals implicated him in the offence. However, he was exonerated by the police under Section 169 of the code of criminal procedure after recording of statements of 13 witnesses. He was not named in the challan or charge-sheet submitted by the police and was not sent up for trial by the judicial magistrate.

After a lapse of three months, however, some people out to harass and hurt him politically sought his inclusion in the case as an accused. A four-member police committee headed by a deputy inspector-general ruled out reinvestigation as there was no scope for a fresh inquiry and none was warranted. The ex-minister contended that the move was mala fide as the purpose was somehow to implicate him in the offence.

Bail order recalled

Another division bench consisting of Justices Rana M. Shamim and Ghulam Dastgir A. Shahani cancelled the interim bail before arrest granted to former Federal Investigation Agency deputy director Agha Ishrat Ali, an accused in a National Accountability Bureau reference. According to the NAB, he had properties not accounted for by known sources of his income.

The official contended that the two houses he had been alleged to have purchased with ill-gotten money were gifted to him by his father and father-in-law. He joined the FIA as sub-inspector in 1976 and rose to become an assistant director in 1995. He was dismissed in March 2000 but was reinstated by the Federal Service Tribunal in 2005, following which he was promoted as deputy director.

NAB counsel M. Iqbal Choudhry argued that neither the petitioner’s father nor his father-in-law had sufficient resources to purchase the houses said to have been gifted by them. He alleged that the prosecution also had record of his foreign visits and bank accounts. The petitioner also earlier entered a plea bargain under the NAB ordinance and agreed to pay Rs7 million to win reprieve. Bail before arrest is allowed in cases wherein there is no prima facie evidence of involvement of the accused in the alleged offence, the lawyer finally argued.

The bench also issued notices in a petition moved by Faqir Jan Mohammad Maher and four other relatives of convicted public servant Khan Mohammad Maher. At the time of dismissal of Khan Mohammad Maher’s petition for quashment of the NAB case against him under the National Reconciliation Order, the applications moved by his father and other next of kin for release of their properties were also disposed of. The relatives requested the court through Advocate Adnan Karim to hear their plea and release their properties.

Vehicle impounded

Justice Arshad Noor Khan, meanwhile, ordered the Nazimabad police station to impound rashly-driven dumper truck (No TKE-511) and retain its custody till further orders. He also asked the excise and taxation officer concerned not to execute transfer of the truck or allow its owner to create third party interest in it.

Arguing a suit instituted by Mst Farhana Mansoor, 31-year-old widow of software engineer Mansoor, who was run over and killed by the truck, Advocate Nasir Maqsood said the truck, which was registered in Balochistan, could be removed from the court’s jurisdiction or sold to frustrate a possible decree. He said the plaintiff and her two orphaned minor daughters have sought Rs31 million as damages from the owner and driver of the truck. The accident occurred at the Nazimabad flyover crossing on March 11, 2008, when the truck hit four motorcycles waiting for the traffic signal to reopen. After hitting the motorcycles, it ran into an electricity pole and fell upon a boundary wall.

The lawyer said the vehicle was being negligently driven and its owner and driver were liable to pay damages to the plaintiff family, which lost its only bread-winner. Deceased Mansoor was earning Rs30,000 a month and the truck was not insured against third party risk in violation of the Motor Vehicles Ordinance.

Remanded

Justice Khwaja Naveed Ahmed, meanwhile, extended by two days the physical remand of Ibrahim, who is accused of kidnapping Mst Mehnaz, wife of Umar Naveed Minhas, and their son, Ahmed, while she was driving him to his school in the remit of the Gizri police station on April 29, 2008. He demanded and received a ransom for releasing the abductees along with their car the same day.

The accused was arrested by the anti-violent crime cell in another case. He confessed to the kidnapping during interrogation and the police registered a case obtained his remand. The remand was to expire on Wednesday and the police sought its extension.