KARACHI, Jan 21: Hearing of criminal miscellaneous applications for acquittal of former senator Asif Ali Zardari in two cases of attempted suicide during police custody, was on Monday adjourned to Jan 28 for filing of comments.

When the matter pertaining to alleged self-inflicted injuries on the tongue and the neck by the husband of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto came up before Justice Afzal Soomro of the Sindh High Court, advocate-general Sindh Raja Qureshi was present.

Farooq H. Naek, counsel for Mr Zardari, had moved the court with an application under section 561-A of CrPC seeking quashment of proceedings before the Vth Judicial Magistrate, South.

The case pertains to double murder of Justice Nizam Ahmed and his son Nadeem Ahmed.

The applicant maintains that inspector Qadir Khan of the CIA South lodged an FIR at PS Civil Lines police station on 17-5-1999 under section 325 of the Qisas and Diyat Ordinance read with section 309 of PPC.

The complainant stated that Asif Zardari was remanded in the custody of CIA police on a seven-day remand and was being interrogated when he suddenly got “provoked and by breaking a glass tumbler, lying in front on the table, and hit the same on right and left sides of his neck in order to commit suicide.”

A number of police officers present at the place, including SP Sattar Detho, DSP Imam Bux Taggar, DSP Altaf Qadri, DSP Abul Rasheed Shah, Inspector Bakhtawar, Shahnawaz and Malik Mumtaz, overpowered the accused and stopped him from inflicting further wounds.

The accused/applicant was thus booked on a charge of committing suicide.

The application pertained to FIR 66/99 in which Mr Zardari was accused of cutting his tongue with his teeth during interrogation.

The counsel for the applicant/accused, Farooq H. Naik, while moving the said acquittal application, had maintained that his client was in the custody of CIA at the time of the alleged incident. In fact the investigators tortured him and to escape criminal liability police concocted the story for victimizing the accused/applicant, he maintained.