KARACHI: Refusing the investigating officer’s request for judicial remand of two suspects detained in connection with death of a suspected mugger due to alleged denial of medical treatment after shooting, a local court has referred the matter to the administrative judge of the antiterrorism courts for trial.

Police claimed to have booked and detained Abdul Raheem Shah, chairman of the UC-3, and Riaz Hussain Aamir, a former sub-inspector at the Shah Latif Town police station, over alleged denial of medical aid to Irshad Rajhani that led to his death, on Feb 6.

On Saturday, investigating officer Inspector Mehboob Elahi produced both the detained suspects before the judicial magistrate (Malir) upon expiry of their four day physical remand in police custody. They were produced amid tight security.

The IO informed that he had interrogated them and their remand in police custody was no more required, therefore, he requested the court to remand them in judicial custody.

However, Advocate Pir Syed Asadullah Shah Rashidi appeared on behalf of a brother of Irshad Rajhani, who has lodged a separate FIR against the detained suspects and others under Sections 302 (premeditated murder), 201 (causing disappearance of evidence of offence, or giving false information to screen offender) and 34 (common intention) of the Pakistan Penal Code read with Section 7 (acts of terrorism) of the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997 at the Shah Latif Town police station.

The counsel argued that there was mala fide intention on the part of the police/IO since the IO had neither arrested the suspects nominated in his FIR nor had he recorded any statement under Section 161 of the criminal procedure code, on behalf of the deceased.

The evidence of the incident is based on modern devices/videos, but the same has not been collected by the IO and sent to experts, which clearly showed mala fide intentions on the part of Inspector Mehboob Elahi to save the skin of the suspects, he added.

Concluding his arguments, Mr Rashidi contended that this was a pre-planned murder of alleged suspect Irshad Ali Ranjhani committed in the presence of hundreds of people and the suspect Abdul Raheem Shah and his companions also restrained the people present at the place of the incident from taking him to the hospital for medical treatment.

The police official SI Riaz Hussain Aamir also took Ranjhani to the police station for registration of an FIR instead of taking him to the hospital for the first aid treatment.

Therefore, he argued that the charges under Sections 302, 201 and 34 of the PPC read with Section 7 of the ATA, 1997, were made out against the detained suspects and asked the judge to send them to the administrative judge of the antiterrorism courts for further orders.

The state prosecutor Muhammad Ali Khan in his scrutiny note on the remand paper also submitted that the IO had not recorded statements of the eyewitnesses appearing in the video clips, adding that rather he had recorded the statements of others, who were not seen in such video clips.

He further stated that the IO was not arresting the suspects nominated in the second FIR registered against the present suspects for the alleged brutal murder. Therefore, he requested the court to insert Sections 302, 201 and 34 of the PPC and 7 of the ATA instead of the Section 322, which had been mentioned in the first FIR.

After hearing arguments from both sides and examining case record, the judge wrote in the order that prima facie sufficient evidence was available for offence under Sections 302, 201 and 34 PPC read with the Section 7 ATA.

Hence, the judge said “in terms of the bar contained in Section 21-E of the ATA, this court cannot not grant police custody or jail custody remand and being area magistrate can only grant transitory remand and same is granted with direction to the Investigation Officer to produce the accused persons on Monday, i.e. Feb 18 before the Administrative Judge of Anti-Terrorism Courts, Karachi.”

Published in Dawn, February 18th, 2019