KARACHI, May 21: An anti-terrorism court gave one more week to the investigation officer of the Arshad Pappu murder case to file a probe report after he informed the court on Tuesday that the probe had been transferred to the Anti-Violent Crime Cell (AVCC).

Alleged Lyari gangster Arshad Pappu, his brother Yasir Arafat and their confidant Juma Shera were killed on the night of March 16.

Shah Jehan Baloch, an MNA-elect of the Pakistan Peoples Party, Zubair Baloch, a brother of banned People’s Amn Committee chief Uzair Jan Baloch, Zakir Dada and Abdul Rehman have already been remanded in judicial custody in the present case.

On April 24, the court had asked the investigation officer, Abid Ansari of the Kalakot police station, to complete the investigation and submit a report on April 30. However, the IO got three extensions and the court on May 14 directed him to submit the investigation report till May 21.

However, an inspector of the AVCC appeared before the ATC-III on Tuesday and informed the court that the high-ups had transferred the investigation to him on May 13. He submitted that the widow of Pappu, who was also the complainant in the case, was not cooperating and willing to transfer the investigations to the CID.

Judge Ghulam Mustafa Memon issued a direction to the IO to submit the investigation report under Section 173 of the criminal procedure code in one week.

Shahzeb murder case

Two defence lawyers completed their final arguments on Tuesday before an anti-terrorism court in the Shahzeb murder case.

Shahrukh Jatoi, Nawab Siraj Ali Talpur, his brother Nawab Sajjad Ali Talpur and their house servant Ghulam Murtaza Lashari have been charged with killing 20-year-old Shahzeb on the night of Dec 24, 2012.

Mehmood Qureshi, the lawyer for accused Siraj, resumed his remaining arguments on Tuesday. He highlighted glaring contradictions in the statements of prosecution witnesses, contrary timing about the incident and argued that the prosecution had remained unable to place any solid evidence in court to prove its case and termed eyewitnesses as ‘setup witnesses’.

Haq Nawaz Talpur, the counsel for Sajjad, also completed his arguments on Tuesday and adopted most of the contentions of Mr Qureshi.

The lawyer for Shahrukh had already concluded his arguments. The hearing was adjourned till Wednesday for final arguments of the last defence lawyer and the prosecutor.