KARACHI: Police informed an antiterrorism court on Saturday through a supplementary investigation that Muttahida Qaumi Movement lawmaker Rauf Siddiqui was not chargesheeted in the Baldia factory fire case for want of sufficient evidence.

The investigating officer has placed the names of Mr Siddiqui and four employees of the ill-fated industrial unit in column two of the second supplementary charge sheet with blue ink, stating that incriminating evidence was not found in order to charge-sheet them.

According to the supplementary report, the former MQM sector in-charge Abdul Rehman alias Bhola, who was brought back after his arrest in Bangkok through Interpol in December 2016, during his confessional statement before a judicial magistrate said that he with Zubair alias Charya, and others set the factory ablaze on the instruction of the then chief of the MQM organising committee Hammad Siddiqui as the factory owners had refused to pay the demanded protection money and ‘partnership’.

The suspect also said that after the incident Rauf Siddiqui allegedly got a case registered against the owners of the industrial unit. Then the suspect said that he came to know that Rauf and Hammad received Rs40 million to Rs50 million from the owners to tone down the case against them, it added.

The supplementary report further said that sufficient evidence was not found against the MQM MPA during investigation, adding that he joined the investigation and denied all the allegations.

It stated that to use the money allegedly extorted from the factory owners on the pretext of compensation for victims, the names of Hyderabad-based businessmen brothers Ali Hasan Qadri and Umer Hasan Qadri and two other suspects emerged.

The investigating officer chargesheeted Abdul Rehman, Zubair, Dr Abdul Sattar Khan and Iqbal Adib Khanum and showed Hammad as absconding accused while the Qadri brothers, who are on bail, were also named as accused in the supplementary report.

Thirteen prosecution witnesses including the factory owner Abdul Aziz Bhaila and his sons, Arshad Bhaila and Shahid Bhaila, have been shown in the report.

When the case came up for hearing before the ATC-VII judge, who is conducting the trial inside the central prison, the IO placed the supplementary report before the court. However, the trial court judge directed the IO to submit the same before the administrative judge of ATCs since he said he had no power to pass an order on the charge sheet.

Thereafter, the IO submitted the supplementary report before the relevant court and after admitting it, the administrative judge sent the charge sheet back to ATC-VII for its disposal according to the law and directed the jail authorities to produce the suspects before the trial court on May 20.

Published in Dawn, April 23rd, 2017