KARACHI: A local court on Monday issued notice to the defence counsel to argue on an application seeking transfer of the case pertaining to double murder of an anchorperson, Mureed Abbas, and another individual to an antiterrorism court.

Police detained and booked Atif Zaman for allegedly killing his two business partners Mureed Abbas and Khizar Hayat in the Khayaban-i-Bukhari area of Defence on the night of July 9.

On Monday, when the matter came up for hearing before Judicial Magistrate (South) Abdul Raqeeb Tunio, the prosecutor argued that suspect Atif Zaman was employed in a company’s recovery department earning between Rs10,000 to Rs15,000 salary per month, but he pretended to be an investor engaged in the business of tyres.

He also argued that the suspect started business with Rs600,000 deceitfully received from a man named Humayun and then started cheating the public at large. During the course of investigation, it transpired that the suspect minted around Rs390 million from different people, he said, adding that several people who invested their money also approached the police.

The prosecutor argued that Atif Zaman killed Mureed Abbas when the latter asked for his money invested in the former’s business. The call data record (CDR) has suggested that the suspect called Khizar Hayat and Mureed Abbas on the pretext of returning their money, but killed them, he alleged.

The prosecutor said he first allegedly killed Khizar Hayat at the business place in the commercial area.

Then he killed Mureed Abbas in a residential area and kept waving a weapon due to which some residents shifted their children to other places due to fear, he added.

IO Atiqur Rehman said he visited the places of incidents, recorded the statements of witnesses, who were still terrified, and collected other evidence. Both the murders were committed at a short distance of 500 yards within a span of around five minutes and later he also shot at himself in a bungled suicide attempt, he said, adding that those incidents sparked a sense of fear and terror among the residents of the area.

The prosecutor argued that the matter attracted Section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997 in view of the facts and circumstances of the case, adding that the same charge was also added to the identical cases such as in the murder of student Shahzeb Khan and Irshad Ranjhani.

The IO said the terrorism charge had also been added in the arms case lodged against Atif Zaman, adding that permission regarding incorporation of Section 7 of the ATA in both cases was duly accorded by the police authority and prosecution.

He also mentioned that suspect Atif Zaman’s brother was also present with him at the time both murders were committed.

Advocate Amir Nawaz Warraich for the complainant defended inclusion of the terrorism charge in the case arguing that Mureed Abbas lost his life as well as earnings of his entire life, adding that the incident had terrified the area residents.

He added that the suspect challenged the writ of the state by committing the alleged murders and cheating the public at large, adding that the businessmen were shifting their money abroad due to such circumstances in the country.

Financial scam probe

IO Rehman mentioned that investigation into the financial scam did not fell within the domain of police.

However, the investigation revealed that the suspect kept the entire money in his 31 bank accounts, which had been traced out, thus strong evidence was available to prove the charges before the antiterrorism court.

He said the evidence could be shared with the National Accountability Bureau or the Federal Investigation Agency if approached by them.

After hearing arguments from the prosecutor, the judge issued a notice to the defence counsel for the suspect to argue on the transfer plea and fixed the matter on Tuesday (today).

Published in Dawn, August 20th, 2019