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KARACHI: A sessions court on Thursday indicted some serving and retired officials of the National Highway Authority (NHA) and the chairman and two directors of a consultant firm in the Shershah bridge collapse case.
Five people were killed, 14 others injured and six vehicles damaged when a portion of the Shershah flyover collapsed on Sept 1, 2007, according to the prosecution.
On an order of the Supreme Court passed on April 7, 2010, NHA chairman Altaf Ahmed Chaudhry, former NHA chairman Maj-General Farrukh Javed, NHA member (operations) Raja Nowsherwan, NHA general manager (construction) Mohammed Yousaf Barakzai, former NHA general manager (construction) retired colonel Tahseen-ul-Haq, former NHA member (planning) Syed Najamul Hassan, chairman of Ms Engineering Consultants International Limited Zaheer Mirza and directors Khaild Mirza and Naveed Mirza were booked in the case registered at the SITE-A police station. The FIR (181/2010) was registered under Sections 322 (punishment for qatl-bis-sabab), 431 (mischief by injury to public road, bridge, river or channel), 427 (mischief causing damage to the amount of fifty rupees), 337-H (punishment for hurt by rash or negligent act) and 34 (common intention) of the Pakistan Penal Code.
When the matter came up for hearing on Thursday, additional district and sessions judge (west) Gulshan Ara Chandio read out all the charges against the suspects.
The suspects pleaded not guilty and opted to contest the case.
The court then summoned prosecution witnesses directing them to record their testimonies on Sept 15.
Sectarian killing case
Two witnesses on Thursday rightly picked up two suspects said to be associated with a proscribed militant outfit during an identification parade in a sectarian killing case.
Judicial magistrate (central) Zahida Parveen conducted the identification parade of Waseem Ahmed alias Barudi and Mohammad Abdullah alias Taimoor during which eyewitnesses Fakhar Abbas and Manzoor Hussain identified them and assigned them their roles in the commissioning of offence.
According to the prosecution, Mirza Khadim Hussain, son of religious scholar Mirza Yousuf Hussain, was gunned down near his house in an attack carried out by two men riding a motorbike in Nazimabad No 3 on Aug 16.
A case (FIR 632/2010) was registered under Sections 302 (punishment for qatl-i-amd) and 34 (common intention) of the Pakistan Penal Code at the Nazimabad police station.
On Aug 17, the CID police arrested the suspects said to be the activists of Lashkar-i-Jhangvi in Orangi Town.
Following the identification of the suspects on Thursday, the court remanded the suspects in jail custody till Sept 3 and directed the investigation officer to submit the charge-sheet.
Driver gets bail
A judicial magistrate on Thursday granted bail to the young driver of a fast-moving car which killed three people in Defence on Aug 31.
Earlier, the car driver, Ali Saad Khan, was produced in the court of judicial magistrate (south). The magistrate remanded him to bail against a surety bond of Rs1.5million.
According to the persecution, three men, including two women, were waiting on a footpath for a public transport in Khayaban-i-Shamsheer within the remit of the Darakhshan police station on the night of Aug 31 when a car being driven by the suspect knocked them to death. A case (FIR 446/2010) was registered under Section 320 (punishment for qatl-i-khata for rash negligent driving) of the Pakistan Penal Code on the complaint of the husband of a victim.
