KARACHI: A sessions court granted on Wednesday interim pre-arrest bail to an inspector of the Anti-Car Lifting Cell (ACLC) in the murder case of a teenager.

Inspector Tariq Rahim with eight other detained officials of the ACLC has been booked for allegedly killing 19-year-old Intizar Ahmed on the night of Jan 13 in Defence Housing Authority.

The suspect, who went into hiding after the incident, turned up with his lawyer before an additional district and sessions court (south) and moved a pre-arrest bail application.

After a preliminary hearing, the court granted him interim bail against a surety bond of Rs500,000 till Jan 23 and issued a notice to the prosecution for arguments at next hearing.

Police had arrested SHO of the ACLC police station Inspector Tariq Mehmood, Inspector Azhar Ahsan, head constables Ghulam Abbas, son of Niaz Ali, and Shahid and constables Ghulam Abbas, son of Ghulam Raza, Fawad Khan, Mohammed Daniyal and Bilal Rasheed a day after the incident and obtained their seven-day remand from a judicial magistrate.

However, the FIR was registered against unidentified men and it said that unidentified persons intercepted the car of the victim on Khayaban-i-Ittehad in DHA and shot him dead.

The case was registered on a complaint of the deceased’s father under sections 302 (premeditated murder) and 34 (common intension) of the Pakistan Penal Code at the Darakhshan police station.

Dr Asim allowed to travel abroad

An accountability court on Wednesday allowed former petroleum minister Dr Asim Hussain to travel abroad for treatment.

Dr Asim, a close aide to former president Asif Ali Zardari, through his lawyer moved an application seeking permission to visit abroad for a follow-up checkup.

After hearing both sides, accountability court-IV judge Fareed Anwar Qazi allowed the applicant to visit abroad for 15 days after furnishing a surety bond of Rs6 million.

Earlier, he had visited the United Kingdom in November for a surgery after obtaining permission from the Supreme Court.

Dr Asim and others are facing trial in two corruption references before the accountability court.

The former petroleum minister with the then petroleum secretary Ejaz Chaudhry and others has been accused of misusing his authority for getting plots allotted fraudulently and encroaching upon state land for expansion of the Dr Ziauddin Hospital, money laundering, commission through fertilizer cartel and fraud with public in the name of a charity hospital.

In the second reference, Dr Asim, Sui Southern Gas Company managing director Khalid Rehman, some other former top officials of the gas utility and the Oil and Gas Development Company with a senior official of Jamshoro Joint Venture Limited (JJVL) have been booked for allegedly misusing their authority and fraudulently awarding contracts of five gas fields to privately-managed gas processing company JJVL that had caused an alleged loss of Rs17.338 billion.

He is also facing trial before an antiterrorsim court for allegedly treating and harbouring suspected terrorists, political militants and gangsters at his hospital while Pak Sarzameen Party president Anis Kaimkhani, Karachi Mayor Waseem Akhtar, MQM-P lawmaker Rauf Siddiqui, PPP’s Abdul Qadir Patel, Usman Moazzam of Pasban and Saleem Shahzad have been named as co-accused for allegedly asking Dr Asim for treatment of alleged militants.

The former minister is also likely to move an identical application before the ATC-II soon to seek permission.

Former MQM lawmaker indicted

An antiterrorism court indicted on Wednesday a former provincial lawmaker of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement and others in a case related to the alleged distribution of CDs containing anti-state speeches.

The former MQM MPA, Shiraz Waheed, who recently joined the Pak Sarzameen Party, with Mobin alias Pakistani, Waqas, Ali Hasan, Danish Saeed and Naeem Shamshad, has been booked for allegedly distributing CDs, which contained speeches and statements of the MQM founder to wage war or attempt or abet to wage war against the country, among the people in Ahsanabad in August 2016.

The ATC-II judge read out the charges against the accused persons. However, they pleaded not guilty and opted to contest the charges. The court summoned the prosecution witnesses for evidence on Jan 25.

The case was lodged under sections 120-B (punishment for criminal conspiracy), 121 (waging or attempting to wage war or abetting waging of war against Pakistan), 123-A (condemnation of the creation of the state and advocacy of abolition of its sovereignty), 124-A (sedition) and 109 (abetment) of the Pakistan Penal Code read with Section 7 of Anti-terrorism Act at the SITE Superhighway Industrial Area police station.

Three remanded in robbery bid case

A judicial magistrate remanded on Wednesday three suspects in police custody in an attempted robbery case till Jan 20.

Imam Bux; Mumtaz Ali, alias Molia, and Sajjad Ali have been booked for allegedly trying to intercept the vehicle of Saad Ahmed, son of Supreme Court judge Justice Gulzar Ahmed, with the intention of committing a robbery in Korangi Industrial Area on Jan 10.

The police said that they arrested the suspects on Jan 16 and produced them before the court of a judicial magistrate (east) to seek their custody for questioning. Magistrate Mohammad Javed handed them over to police on three-day physical remand.

According to the FIR, complainant Mohammed Iqbal, an employee of the apex court, said that he was deputed as driver at the residence of Justice Ahmed, adding that on Jan 10, he along with Saad and policeman Ahsanullah was going to Korangi Industrial Area.

However, three men riding a motorcycle attempted to intercept their car near Vita Chowrangi to commit robbery, but the robbers fled after the police guard opened fire, he added.

A case was registered under Sections 393 (attempt to commit robbery) and 34 (common intention) of the Pakistan Penal Code at the KIA police station.

Published in Dawn, January 18th, 2018