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KARACHI, Sept 25: The additional district and sessions judge-V, Central, Tasneem Sultana, on Tuesday refused the investigation officer (IO) of the Taimuria further time in the investigation into the deaths of Hafiz Mohammed Azeem Sheikh and his bride Beenish, whose bodies were discovered on Aug 11, 2007, in their North Nazimabad apartment the morning after their wedding.
Despite directions from the court of judicial magistrate-12, Central, Abdul Zahoor Chandio, the IO has so far failed to submit the charge-sheet.
Abdul Majeed, the father of the deceased groom, filed on Thursday (Sept 20) an application in the court of district and sessions judge, Central, Abdul Maalik, requesting the transfer of the case (FIR No 391/07 registered under Section 302/34 of the Pakistan Penal Code) to another zone. Talking to Dawn later, he referred to his lack of confidence in the investigation team.
The application was transferred to additional district and sessions judge-4, Gulshan Ara Chandio, who was on leave. The case was therefore conducted by the ADJ-V, which is a link court. The IO, sub-inspector Ashraf, Inspector Mohammed Ishaq and members of the victim Azeem’s family appeared in court on Sept 25.
‘Police harassing victim’s family’
Advocate Shaikh Javaid Mir, who submitted the application under Section 22-A(6)(iii)/(iv) of the Criminal Procedures Code on behalf of Mr Majeed, named the provincial police officer, additional inspector general of police (investigation), the capital police officer and the state as respondents.
Mr Majeed stated that the case’s investigation was assigned to sub-inspector Ashraf, while TPO Naeem Shaikh of North Nazimabad, DSP Farooq of the Taimuria police station, DSP Ejaz Hashmi of the Azizabad police station and DSP Khalid of the Industrial Area police station supervised it. The investigation was monitored by DIG (investigation) Falak Khurshid.
According to Mr Majeed’s statement, the police called him repeatedly to police stations and subjected him to severe torture at the Taimuria and Gulberg police stations. The deceased groom’s father claimed that in addition to beating him mercilessly, the police blindfolded him and took him to undisclosed locations during the interrogations, and instructed him to refrain from naming Abdul Samad and Abdul Ghayur as the accused in the case.
Talking to Dawn, Mr Majeed said that the investigation team was protecting the accused and harassing the victim’s family, and alleged that the IO was biased and attempting to hush up the investigation.
Advocate Mir said that the police were bound under Section 173 of the Criminal Procedures Code to submit investigation details with 17 days. However, he pointed out, the charge-sheet had not been produced in court despite the passage of a month and a half. This, he added, exposed the mala fide intentions of the IO, the DIG concerned and other police officials. He accused the police of prolonging the investigation and making false claims about the investigation of the case through the media.
‘Police changed report’
The deceased groom’s sisters told Dawn that on the pretext of the investigation, the police would visit their residence late at night, including inspector Manzoor Siddiqui who once showed up at 1am, drunk and demanding details about the murder.
One of the sisters, Sumera, claimed that she shared biryani with the couple and had to have her stomach washed in hospital. “My medical report proved that I too had ingested poison but the police later changed the report,” she alleged.
The sisters clarified that Azeem and Beenish’s wedding had not been arranged in haste. In fact, they said, the couple had been engaged for two years and their families often visited each others’ residences. They rejected the police claim that their father, Abdul Majeed, had been involved in the murder. The IO has been directed to appear in the court of ADJ-4 on Sept 26.
