This television frame grab taken from a news channel on June 10, 2011 shows paramilitary soldiers shooting Sarfraz Shah in Karachi on June 8, 2011. — Photo by AFP

KARACHI, Aug 4: An anti-terrorism court on Thursday recorded statements of the accused in the Sarfraz Shah murder case.

Six personnel of the Pakistan Rangers, Sindh and a civilian accused denied the charges levelled against them and deposed that they were falsely implicated in the case.

In their statements, the accused denied that they had committed any act of terrorism and said that they had not watched any video of the incident.

Following completion of their statements, accused Shahid Zafar named Colonel Salman of the Pakistan Rangers, the chief executive officer of a private TV channel and a driver of the Chhipa welfare as defence witnesses.

Surprisingly, the civilian accused, Afsar Khan, told the court that he would examine in his defence three prosecution witnesses — investigation officer DIG Sultan Khawaja, DSP Altaf Hussain and Sub-Inspector Nasrullah — who have already been examined by the prosecution.

Accused Mohammad Tariq and Manthar Ali gave the name of Alam Zab as a defence witness.

Mr Zab was said to have alleged that Sarfraz sought to rob him.

Judge Bashir Ahmed Khoso of ATC-I adjourned the hearing till Friday and directed the accused to produce the defence witnesses.

Meanwhile, the court also dismissed two applications of the defence side seeking summoning and examination of two prosecution witnesses.

One of the defence counsel had moved two applications under Section 510 (report of chemical examiner, serologist, etc) of the criminal procedure code and requested the court to summon the chemical examiner and the ballistic expert and examine them. The court pronounced the order after hearing both sides.

Sarfraz Shah was shot at and then left to die inside the park in Clifton on June 8.

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