August 14, 2008	Thursday	Sha'aban 11, 1429

KARACHI, Aug 13: The judge of a special anti-corruption court on Wednesday remanded a former superintendent of the central prison in police custody till Aug 18 on corruption charges.

Police had arrested the ex-superintendent jail, Pir Shabbir Jan Serhandi, for his alleged involvement in some corruption cases and handed him over to the anti-corruption establishment police on Aug 12.

Judge Abdul Razaq of the additional district and sessions court-VI, east, meanwhile, adjourned the hearing in a kidnap and murder case against chief of the Muhajir Quami Movement Afaq Ahmed till Aug 16.

The judge, who is conducting the trial inside the central prison, had summoned the witnesses on the previous hearing. However, they did not turn up to testify.

According to the charge-sheet, Afaq Ahmed and his associates kidnapped Mohammed Farooq, Mohammad Thair, Salman and M Anwar, workers of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, within the Landhi police limits on June 19, 1992 and later killed Mohammad Farooq.

The police registered a case (FIR No102/1992) under Sections 147, 148, 149, 324, 364, 302 of the Pakistan Penal Code on the complaint of one Ismail Quershi.

Gang-rape

Additional district and sessions judge-IV (East) Aftab Ahmed Bughio adjourned the hearing in a case pertaining to the gang-rape of a woman on the premises of Mazar-i-Quaid till Aug 23 as witnesses did not turn up on Wednesday.

The court had indicted an assistant manager of the mausoleum’s security staff, an accountant and a personal assistant to the resident engineer of the mausoleum management board in the gang-rape of an 18-year-old visitor on August 2. The three accused pleaded not guilty and opted to contest the case.

The judge had summoned the prosecution witnesses for Aug 13. However, they did not turn up on Wednesday. The court re-issued notices to the witnesses directing them to appear in court on the next hearing.According to the charge-sheet, the woman and her family members from Lodhran (Punjab) were on a visit to the mausoleum when she was allegedly abducted during a power breakdown on March 15. She was taken to a room where she was forced to take a drugged drink and subjected to gang-rape.

The kidnappers kept her in their custody for a day and a half and then threw her at the gate of the mausoleum in the early hours of March 17. She was later spotted in an unconscious state by Rangers personnel, the charge-sheet said.

The case (FIR No 50/2008) was registered at Brigade police station under the Section 365/B of Pakistan Penal Code (the section was inserted through the Protection of Women Act 2006) on the complaint of her father.