August 24, 2008	Sunday	Sha'aban 21, 1429

KARACHI, Aug 23: A district and sessions court on Saturday once again deferred indictment of two suspects nominated in the murder case of renowned artist Ismail Gulgee, his wife and thier maidservant till Sept 13.

Gulgee, his wife Zareen Gulgee, and their maid Asiya were strangled to death by unidentified men in their house situated in the Boat Basin police limits on December 19, 2007. The bodies found were three days old while the driver and a servant had gone missing along with a car belonging to the deceased.

Earlier, one of the accused, Akram Ali, filed an application seeking a counsel from the state, maintaining that he could not hire a lawyer. The district and sessions judge South, Arjun Ram K. Talreja, accepting his plea had directed the authorities concerned to arrange a lawyer for him. However, on Saturday the court was informed that though a counsel had been arranged, but he would represent the accused from the next hearing.

The driver of Gulgee, Akram Ali, and another servant, Anwar, had disappeared along with the couple’s car but were arrested on February 16 from a hotel near the Cantonment railway station. Later, they were sent to jail.

Meanwhile, the additional district and sessions judge-VI, East, Abdul Razzaq, adjourned till Sept 15 the hearing of two cases registered against Akram Lahori, chief of the banned Lashkar-i-Jhangvi, due to the absence of public prosecutor.

Lahori had been charged with murder and attempt to murder in cases registered against him in 2002. The first case was registered under Section 302 of the Pakistan Penal Code at the Bridge police station and the second was registered under Section 324 of the PPC at the Korangi Industrial Area police station.

Kidnapped girls

A district and session court adjourned the hearing on an application filed by the mother of two minor girls reportedly kidnapped by their uncle under the tribal custom of Vani till Aug 25.

The applicant’s counsel told the court that the kidnapped girls had been recovered from Kala Dhaka area in Mansehra and they were in the custody of a political teshildar and DCO Mansehra, however, they had yet to leave for Karachi since the jigra was settling the dispute between both the groups, adding that now the girls were likely to arrive in the city on Sunday night. Meanwhile, the additional district and sessions court, East, adjourned the hearing in a case pertaining to the gang-rape of an 18-year-old woman in the premises of Mazar-i-Quaid till Sept 6 since the judge was on leave.