RAWALPINDI: The police began investigation into the murder of the Additional District and Sessions Judge (ADSJ), shot dead on Wednesday by unknown assailants at his house in Satellite Town.

ADSJ Tahir Khan Niazi, 48 was laid to rest at a local graveyard on Thursday.

According to sources close to the investigation, police teams including forensic experts, scoured the scene and interviewed several residents of the neighbourhood. However, they were unable to locate any CCTV cameras in the area.

According to the police, on Wednesday afternoon an intruder forced his way into the house of the judge and took his wife’s mobile phone. When Mr Niazi rushed to her rescue and attempted to overpower the intruder, another man entered the house and shot him, injuring him critically.

The two men fled the scene with a third, waiting outside the house on a motorcycle and took Mrs Niazi’s mobile phone.

According to the police, the gunman used a 30-bore pistol and fired two shots, one of which hit the judge.

The assailants made a phone call from Mrs Niazi’s phone, shortly after fleeing the scene. The police traced the call to a location on D.A.V College Road and made a raid shortly after midnight on Wednesday. They interviewed a number of people in the area and reached the conclusion that the assailants had passed through there.

Since then the mobile phone has been switched off.

The police have also made sketches of the attackers and will be using the photograph database of the Crime Investigation Agency to find a match.

In addition to other important cases, Tahir Khan Niazi was hearing a murder case involving Imtiaz Khokhar alias Taji Khokar, brother of ex-deputy speaker national assembly Haji Nawaz Khokhar. A final decision was due to be announced by the end of the month.

Meanwhile, during a meeting on Thursday, senior police officers of the district assured the judges of Lahore High Court that the killers of the ADSJ would be found within 48 hours.

Chief Justice of Pakistan Nasir-ul-Mulk and Chief Justice Lahore High Court Mazoor Ahmed Malik visited the house of the late Tahir Khan Niazi and expressed their condolences to his family.

TTP claims responsibility for murder

News agency ‘Reuters’ reported on Thursday the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) had claimed responsibility for the murder in a statement emailed to the agency.

Taliban spokesperson Mohammad Khorasani was quoted as saying that the TTP’s special task force successfully managed to target ADSJ Tahir Khan Niazi. Khorasani did not, however, state a reason for the attack.

Published in Dawn, August 7th, 2015

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