KARACHI: Police on Wednesday asked a judicial magistrate to release three brothers sent to jail in a case pertaining to the murder of a college student near Seaview since no evidence was found against them.

The three brothers — Haider Hussain Burney, Hasan Hussain Burney and Hasnain Hussain Burney — along with main suspect Khawar Hussain Burney, Abdul Rehman and some absconding accomplices have been booked for allegedly killing 18-year-old Zafir Ahmed Zuberi and injuring his friend on Abdul Sattar Edhi Avenue near Seaview on Dec 3.

The investigating officer, Inspector Amir Altaf, submitted a report in court requesting the magistrate to release the three detained brothers under Section 497(2) of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) since there was no evidence on record against them.

The magistrate is set to rule on the police report on Thursday (today).

Two get pre-arrest interim bail in Baldia factory fire case

Dr Abdul Raheem and others are absconders in the case while another suspect, Junaid Shah, has obtained pre-arrest bail.

Last week, suspect Rehman recorded his confessional statement under Section 164 of the CrPC before a judicial magistrate.

Order reserved on Rehman Bhola’s bail plea

An antiterrorism court reserved on Wednesday its order on the bail application of a former sector in-charge of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement facing trial in the Baldia factory fire case.

Abdul Rehman alias Bhola moved his bail application through his lawyer who argued that his client was not named in the FIR and he was nominated as an accused after a delay of two-and-a-half years.

However, Special Public Prosecutor Sajid Mehmood Shaikh opposed the plea submitting that eyewitnesses, including owners of the ill-fated factory, deposed against him and a joint investigation team recommended him as an accused.

Asking the court to dismiss the bail, he further submitted that the applicant had also recorded his confessional statement before a magistrate.

He maintained that political pressure on police and witnesses had initially delayed the nomination of the applicant as an accused in the FIR.

After hearing both sides, the judge of ATC-VII, who is conducting the trial at the judicial complex inside the Karachi Central Prison, reserved the order till Dec 30.

The court also granted interim pre-arrest bail to Dr Abdul Sattar Khan and Iqbal Adib Khanum against a surety bond of Rs100,000 each till the next hearing.

It also directed a Hyderabad-based businessman, Umer Hasan Qadri, to join the investigation and asked his brother, Ali Hasan Qadri, through his guarantor to ensure his presence in the next hearing.

The Qadri brothers, Dr Sattar and Ms Khanum have been booked for reportedly using the money allegedly extorted from the factory owners on the pretext of compensation for victims’ families.

Meanwhile, MQM lawmaker Rauf Siddiqui also submitted written objections in court in response to an application of the prosecutor who asked the court to summon him as an accused to face the trial.

Mr Siddiqui submitted that the police already cleared him in the supplementary charge sheet as sufficient evidence was not found against him during the course of investigations.

In a previous hearing, the prosecutor moved an application stating that the police did not charge sheet the lawmaker for lack of evidence, but there was sufficient evidence available against Mr Siddiqui to connect him with the crime.

According to the supplementary charge sheet, Abdul Rehman during interrogation as well as before a magistrate disclosed that he directed detained suspect Zubair alias Charya and others to set the factory on fire 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.

Over 250 workers were killed in a fire that engulfed a multistorey garment factory building in Baldia Town in September 2012.

Published in Dawn, December 21st, 2017