KARACHI: An anti-terrorism court on Tuesday remanded five suspects in judicial custody in the DHA shootout case.

Salman Abro, the main suspect and son of a superintendent of police, has been booked along with police guards of his father for allegedly killing his 18-year-old classmate Suleman Lashari and wounding his private guard after breaking into the latter’s house on the night of May 8 in the Defence Housing Authority. The main suspect also sustained wounds and one of the police guards was killed in an exchange of fire.

The police produced Salman and four police guards Yasin Jamali, Imran Ali, Maqbool Brohi and Mohammad Rashid in the court as their remand ended on Tuesday.

The main suspect was produced on a wheelchair.

The investigating officer informed the court that the custody of the suspects was not required any more and they could be sent to prison as the investigation had already been completed.

While the defence lawyer, Abdul Razzak, asked the court to allow the main suspect to stay at a hospital on medical grounds, the public prosecutor, Abdul Maroof, opposed it arguing that the suspect had been asked for a follow-up treatment at the out-patient department after being discharged from the hospital and the same facility was available at the prison.

Contending that the suspect was underage, the counsel for the defence then asked the court to send the main suspect to the juvenile jail.

The prosecutor, however, argued that the suspect had been shown to be 18 years old in the discharge slip of the private hospital and a certificate issued by a medico-legal officer also carried the same age.

On an inquiry about the grilling of the suspects by a joint investigation team (JIT), the prosecutor informed the judge that the interrogation had not been conducted by the JIT and argued that it was an optional procedure.

After hearing the arguments, Judge Saleem Raza Baloch of the ATC-III sent all the five suspects to prison on judicial remand till June 3 and asked the investigating officer to submit a charge-sheet on next hearing.

The court also directed the chief medical officer of the central prison to provide necessary treatment to the main suspect and submit a report about his health on the next hearing.

Meanwhile, the prosecutor was put on notice for June 3 on an application of the defence lawyer seeking hospitalisation of the main suspect.

Guard jailed for 10 years

A sessions court on Tuesday sentenced a private security guard to 10-year imprisonment in an attempted murder case.

Ghulam Mustafa, who was posted at a substation in the Shamsi Society, was found guilty of trying to kill Munib Hasan with a firearm in July 2012 within the jurisdiction of the Al-Falah police station.

District and Sessions Judge (east) Arshad Noor Khan also imposed a fine of Rs100,000 and in case of default the convict would have to undergo an additional one year in prison.

A case was registered against the accused under Section 324 (attempted murder) of the Pakistan Penal Code on acomplaint of the victim’s brother.

Illicit weapon case

Another court sentenced a man to seven-year imprisonment in an illicit weapon case.

Wakeel Khan was held accountable for carrying an unlicensed pistol in Gulistan-i-Jauhar in 2013.

An assistant sessions judge (east) also imposed a fine of Rs50,000 and in case of non-payment he would have to suffer an additional one month in prison.

The accused was booked under Section 23-A of the Sindh Arms Act, 2013.

Published in Dawn, May 28th, 2014