KARACHI, April 18 Two more prosecution witnesses testified before a sessions court on Saturday in the Mir Murtaza Bhutto murder case.

The then SSP and now a DIG, A.D. Khawaja, and Assistant Sub-Inspector Zubair recorded their statements before Additional District and Sessions Judge (east) Aftab Ahmed.

Reporters were, however, barred from witnessing the proceedings of the case on Saturday.

A.D. Khawaja testified that he was a member of the investigation team, which was assigned the task of conducting a probe into the murder of Murtaza Bhutto, for a short period as he was later transferred to the investigation branch.

He deposed that as a member of the investigation team he had recorded the statements of the witnesses and the complainant during the course of the investigation.

DIG Khawaja testified that he had arrested one of the accused policemen, Wajid Durrani, who was the SSP South at the time of the incident.

Mr Durrani, who is now an additional IG, was present in the court.

Another prosecution witness, Zubair, deposed before the court that he was an ASI and at the time of the incident he was working as a wireless operator at the Clifton police station.

After recording their statements, the court adjourned the hearing till May 2 for recording further testimonies of the witnesses.

Mir Murtaza Bhutto, the chief of Shaheed Bhutto faction of the Pakistan People`s Party, his close aide Ashique Jatoi, and his six comrades were shot dead in an alleged police encounter near his Clifton residence on Sept 20, 1996. Shoaib Suddle, Wajid Durrani, Masood Sharif, Shahid Hayat, Rai Mohammed Tahir, Shabbir Ahmed Qaimkhani, Agha Mohammed Jameel and other policemen are facing trial in the case. President Asif Ali Zardari was also one of the accused in the case but the court acquitted him for want of evidence.

JM testifies

An anti-terrorism court recorded on Saturday the statement of a judicial magistrate in a kidnapping and murder case.

Accused Faheem is being tried by the ATC-II on charges of kidnapping his friend, Saeed Ali, for ransom and then murdering him in October 2008.

Judicial Magistrate Syed Asadullah Shah Rashidi testified that the investigation officer of the case had produced three prosecution witnesses - Zarat Khan, Iqbal Bhatti and Mattiullah - in his court on Oct 25, 2008 and he recorded their statements under Section 164 of the criminal procedure code.

He deposed that on Oct 27 the IO filed an application in his court, requesting him to record the confessional statement of accused Faheem. The accused was produced before him the following day.

The witness concluded that after completing all legal formalities he recorded the statement of the accused under Section 164 of the CrPC in which the accused confessed to having kidnapped and killed the victim.

Judge Abdul Ghafoor Memon of ATC-II adjourned the hearing till April 24.

According to the prosecution, the accused had called his friend and classmate, Saeed Ali, in the Landhi area on Oct 13, 2008 and detained him with the help of his absconding accused, Mohammad Qadafi. They demanded a ransom of Rs3 million from the victim`s family for his safe release. However, they allegedly killed the captive for fear of being caught by the police.

A case (FIR 33/08) was registered under Sections 365-A (kidnapping for ransom), 302 (intentional murder) and 34 (common intention) of the Pakistan Penal Code read with Section 7 of the Anti-terrorism Act, 1997, on the complaint of the victim`s father at the Quaidabad police station.

The police arrested accused Faheem on Oct 25 when he came to collect the ransom money, but his accomplice, Mohammad Qadafi, is still at large.