KARACHI: An absconding suspect surrendered himself to the trial court in a case pertaining to the murder of Karachi University’s dean of Islamic Studies Prof Dr Shakeel Auj, it emerged on Friday.

Prof Auj was gunned down on main University Road on the Nipa bridge in Gulshan-i-Iqbal on Sept 18, 2014 when he with a colleague and a student was on his way to attend a ceremony at the Iranian Culture Centre in Clifton. The female student of the late professor also sustained injuries in the attack.

Judicial sources confided to Dawn that Ehtasham, who was one of the two suspects absconding in the case, had recently surrendered himself to the antiterrorism court concerned in Karachi.

They further said that the suspect, who had been hiding for the past three and a half years, had moved an application through his counsel to seek pre-arrest bail.

In the application, Ehtasham submitted that he was innocent, having nothing to do with the crime and that he was set up by the prosecution.

He further submitted that he wanted to surrender before the trial court to face trial, but apprehended his arrest, as the police had been after him since the crime took place. Therefore, he pleaded to the court to grant him bail before arrest to enable him to surrender to the court.

The judicial sources said the ATC-VIII judge had granted him interim bail before arrest subject to furnishing a surety of Rs100,000 with a direction to surrender before the next hearing.

The court will take up the bail plea for confirmation or otherwise next month.

According to the prosecution, a suspect, Mohammad Mansoor, was arrested on Jan 28, 2015 and during interrogation he confessed to his involvement in the case with his absconding accomplices, Ehtasham and Fahim Jabalpuri. He was reportedly affiliated with the Muttahida Qaumi Movement.

The police investigating officer submitted a charge sheet on April 8, 2015 against Mansoor with both the absconders.

In the charge sheet, it was stated that Mansoor, who was arrested on Jan 28, 2015, with his accomplices had fired at the vehicle of the slain professor. It was further stated that the murder weapon, a 9mm pistol, was found in a garbage dump near the scene of the crime on a lead provided by the arrested suspect. He was also booked in a case registered under the Sindh Arms Act, 2013.

However, the judge exonerated him on July 26, 2017, observing that the prosecution remained unable to establish its case against the accused beyond a shadow of a doubt.

The judge further noted in the order that there were glaring contradictions in the testimonies of around 10 witnesses, including an eyewitness, who had picked up the accused during an identification parade before a judicial magistrate. However, the prosecution still failed to prove its case, the judge had concluded.

On the report of the investigating officer, the court had declared Fahim and Ehtasham proclaimed offenders and kept the case against them on dormant files. The court had also issued non-bailable warrants for their arrest.

A case was registered under Sections 302 (premeditated murder), 324 (attempted murder) and 34 (common intention) of the Pakistan Penal Code read with Section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997 on the complaint of a son of the slain professor at the Aziz Bhatti police station.

Published in Dawn, June 9th, 2018