KARACHI, July 24: District and sessions judge (South) Arjun Ram K. Talreja on Thursday deferred till Aug 9 the indictment of suspects nominated in the murder case of renowned artist, Ismail Gulgee, along with his wife and a maidservant.

One of the accused, Akram Ali, filed an application seeking a counsel, maintaining that he could not hire a lawyer. The judge accepted his plea. Gulgee, his wife, Zareen, and their maid Asiya were strangled to death by unidentified men in their house in Clifton on December 19, 2007. The bodies were found three days later. Their driver, Akram Ali, and a servant, Anwar, had disappeared along with the couple’s car but were arrested on February 16 from a hotel near the Cantonment railway station. Later, they were sent to jail.—Staff Reporter