KARACHI, March 1: Police on Thursday submitted a charge-sheet in a case pertaining to the murder of three lawyers.

Mohammad Tauseef Ansari, Salahuddin and Maulana Muhammad Rashid — who are said to be activists of proscribed Sipah-i-Sahaba Pakistan — have been arrested and booked for allegedly killing Badar Munir Jafri, his son Gohar Shakil Jafri and nephew Kafil Ahmed Jafri and wounding their associate Babar Ali Shah on sectarian grounds within the remit of the Arambagh police station on Jan 25.

Afzal Baloch and Mehmood Babar are absconders in the case.

The investigation officer of the case submitted the charge-sheet in the anti-terrorism court-III and the judge, Ghulam Mustafa Memon, accepted it and adjourned the hearing till March 16 for proceedings against the absconders under Sections 87 (proclamation for person absconding) and 88 (attachment of property of person absconding) of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC).

According to the charge-sheet, Tauseef along with his absconding accomplices, Afzal Baloch and Mehmood Babar, opened fire on the lawyers.

Maulana Muhammad Rashid provided details about the victims and their identification while Salahuddin gave information about the car in which the victims were travelling at the time of the incident, it added.

It further stated that Mohammad Akram and Mohammad Iqbal had rightly picked out Tauseef during an identification parade held before the court of a judicial magistrate.

A ballistics report said that the weapon found in the possession of Tauseef had been used in the crime, it added.

The IO placed 21 prosecution witnesses in the charge-sheet.

According to the prosecution, the lawyers were on their way home from the city courts when the armed men intercepted their vehicle on Maulana Din Mohammad Wafai Road near the Pakistan Chowk and opened indiscriminate fire.

A case (FIR No 27/2012) was registered under Sections 302 (premeditated murder), 324 (attempted murder), 427 (mischief causing damage to the amount of fifty rupees), 109 (abetment) and 34 (common intention) of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) read with Section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act 1997, on a complaint of the wounded victim at the Arambagh police station.

Departmental action against IO

The same court on Thursday dismissed an application of an investigation officer to release an alleged member of one of the several criminal gangs operating in Lyari in two murder cases and ordered a departmental action against the officer.

After interrogating the suspect, Jahanzab, for about two weeks, the IO, inspector Syed Bazhat Ali Rizvi, submitted a report under Section 497(2) of the CrPC and requested the court to release the suspect since he did not find anything during the investigation to link him with the alleged offences.

However, the court dismissed the plea and ruled that IO was an incompetent officer and directed the inspector-general of the Sindh police to take departmental action against him. The court also directed the IG to appoint a competent officer to investigate the cases.

The suspect along with his detained and absconding accomplices has been booked for allegedly killing Abdul Razzaq, Mohammad Shabbir and Zamheer Hussain within the remit of the Napier police station in November 2012.

Two cases (FIR Nos 124/11 and 127/11) were registered under Sections 302 and 34 of the PPC read with Section 7 of the ATA.