LAHORE: An anti-terrorism court in Lahore granted bail to the prime suspect in Zain murder case, Mustafa Kanju, and four others on Tuesday after all the 20 witnesses failed to identify Kanju as the murderer, DawnNews reported.
The judge at Anti-Terrorism Court-1, Justice Mohammad Qasim, announced court’s short order in which it granted bail to Mustafa Kanju, son of a former state minister Siddique Kanju and prime suspect in Zain murder case.
The court arrived at this verdict after all the 20 witnesses in Zain murder case, including the complainant and Zain’s uncle Sohail Afzal, failed to identify Kanju as the suspect who killed Zain in Cavalry Ground area.
Kanju’s counsel had argued that neither the complainant nor two prosecution witnesses identified his client as suspect.
He said the case was registered on political grounds as prosecution had no direct evidence against his client. The counsel prayed to the court to grant bail to Mustafa Kanju.
Mustafa Kanju and six others were indicted on charges of killing a 16-year-old orphan Zain and injuring Hussain, 18, in Cavalry Ground area.
According to prosecution, Kanju was allegedly drunk when his car hit another car driven by a woman. It said Kanju got infuriated and opened fire.
Enraged after his luxury car accidentally hit the vehicle of a woman in Cavalry Ground area of Punjab's provincial capital city on April 1, Kanju had allegedly resorted to gunfire.
The lawyer of the accused stated that Zain had fallen victim to cross-firing between Mustafa and his 'opponents' ─ who have yet to be identified ─ and that Kanju had no personal enmity with him.
Zain, a class-IX student, died on the spot and Husnain was critically injured after they were hit by gunfire. A policeman, who claimed to be the first official reaching the spot after the shooting, said on condition of anonymity that Kanju’s car had accidentally collided with another vehicle in the street.
He alleged that Kanju, who was accompanied by a girl, was in an inebriated state at the time.
The policeman added that Kanju then came out of the car and started shouting at the female driver, blaming her for the accident.
He said some people had gathered there and they tried to convince Kanju it was not the female driver’s fault.
This infuriated Kanju, the policeman said, adding that he then called his guards and resorted to ‘aerial firing’ with bullets hitting the two boys.
Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif had taken notice of the incident, ordered the arrest of the suspect and announced Rs0.5m for the family of the deceased. He also assured them of the provision of justice.
