KARACHI: An anti-terrorism court on Monday granted bail to city mayor Waseem Akhtar in four cases pertaining to the May 12 mayhem.

Mr Akhtar with other suspects has been booked in the four cases related to rioting, arson attacks and attempted murder during the May 12, 2007 carnage.

The jailed mayor has so far obtained bail in 36 out of 39 cases registered against him for his alleged involvement in the May 12 mayhem, listening to Altaf Hussain’s hate speeches, and treatment of alleged terrorists at Dr Asim Hussain’s hospitals.

The counsel for the applicant, Khawaja Naveed Ahmed, contended that Mr Akhtar was not named in the four FIRs registered at the Airport police station, while police investigators also failed to specify his role in the four cases pertaining to the May 12 carnage.

The prosecutor, however, argued that there was sufficient evidence, including the statement of a prosecution witness recorded by a judicial magistrate under Section 164 of the criminal procedure code, against the applicant. Two others witnesses in their testimonies recorded by police also deposed against Mr Akhtar, he added.

In rebuttal, the defence lawyer said the witness had made improvement in the statement recorded by the JM as compared to the one recorded by police under Section 161 of the criminal procedure code to connect his client with the alleged offence.

After hearing both sides, the ATC-II judge granted bail to the interned city mayor against the surety bond of Rs500,000 in each of the four cases.

Meanwhile, the court provided copies of prosecution papers to Mr Akhtar and other detained suspects under Section 265-C (supply of statements and documents to the accused) of the criminal procedure code, a mandatory obligation before the indictment, and reissued non-bailable warrants against MQM lawmaker Kamran Farooqui and other absconders.

Mr Akhtar along with three other politicians landed in prison on July 19 after the court had dismissed their pre-arrest bail applications in the cases related to the treatment of alleged terrorists and gangsters at Dr Asim Hussain’s hospitals.

Five indicted in Rs320m housing land sale scam

An accountability court on Monday indicted five suspects, including an alleged hitman, in a Rs320 million reference pertaining to a housing land sale scam.

Minhaj Qazi, alias Asad, and his accomplices, Shoaib Naeem, Noreen Shoaib, Zeenat Naeem and Sohail Ilyas, have been charged with allegedly committing a fraud with the public in the name of a housing scheme, Areesha City, off the Northern Bypass.

An accountability court judge read out the charges against the suspects and summoned prosecution witnesses for evidence on Nov 5 after they pleaded not guilty and opted to contest the case.

According to the reference, the project Areesha City was fraudulently launched a few years ago in Gadap Town by the suspects and they allegedly looted around Rs320 million from the public.

One of the accused persons, Minhaj, has also been facing trial before an anti-terrorism court in a case pertaining to the 1997 murder of the then managing director of the Karachi Electric Supply Company, Shahid Hamid, his driver, and a guard as well as allegedly providing shelter to terrorists at MQM headquarters Nine-Zero in March last year.

Published in Dawn November 1st, 2016