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KARACHI, July 24: An anti-terrorism court on Tuesday indicted an accused, Tanveer Ahmed, in a case of killing of a seven-year-old girl on Feb 2 in the limits of the Pakistan Bazaar police station in Orangi Town and later impersonating as a kidnapper and demanding ransom money.
The accused pleaded “not guilty” and decided to go on trial.
Judge Ghulam Ali A. Samtio of the ATC-1, who is conducting the trial, fixed Aug 6 and asked Special Public Prosecutor Niamat Ali Randhawa to produce the prosecution witness before the court for recording their statements in the case.
According to the prosecution, the girl, identified as Iqra, was the daughter of Mohammad Faisal, his brother-in-law and a neighbour in Raja Tanveer Colony.
He had allegedly committed the crime when his family members had gone to the residence of his in-laws. The accused’s wife is a sister of the victim’s father.
He had earlier tried to rape the girl, but on her resistance and crying, he hit her in the head and not only killed her but cut her into six pieces.
The accused wrapped the victim’s head in a piece of cloth and threw it into a sewerage line. Then he put some of the parts into a plastic bag, went to Empress Market in Saddar and left the bag on a footpath there.
The prosecution stated that the accused was ostensibly searching for the girl and at the same time demanding Rs400,000 in ransom through telephone calls. Later he had agreed to accept Rs50,000.
His family, however, developed suspicions about his involvement in the case from his voice on the telephone. He used to disappear all of a sudden and the demand for ransom came while he was away.
Investigation Officer (IO) Inspector Bashir Ahmed Sherwani of the Anti-Violent Crime Cell (AVCC) said the accused was handed over to police by his own relatives on March 6 when an FIR (74/07) was registered against him. “He has already confessed to his crime in the presence of AVCC officials,” the IO said.
The police later found the girl’s body parts at a hillside in the limits of Mwachko police station as well as in Saddar.
The prosecution witnesses’ statements could not be recorded in a case against the leaders and workers of the banned Harkatul Mujahideen Al-Aalmi, who are being tried for hatching a conspiracy to kill President Pervez Musharraf on April 26, 2002.
Judge Ghulam Ali Samtio of the ATC-1, who is conducting the trial in the Central Prison, had indicted Aalmi’s chief Mohammad Imran, his deputy Mohammad Hanif, Mohammad Ashraf, Waseem Akhtar, Muhammad Jamil and Arsalan alias Sharib on July 14.
The accused had pleaded not guilty and the court had asked Special Public Prosecutor Niamat Ali Randhawa to produce the witnesses on July 24, but their statements could not be recorded due to an application of the defence counsel. The statements of the prosecution witness would now be recorded on Wednesday.
The accused have been charged with hatching a conspiracy to blow up the president’s motorcade in the Airport police limits.
