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KARACHI, Nov 12: Justice Shabbir Ahmed, the administrative judge of the anti-terrorism courts for Karachi Division, issued on Saturday show-cause notice to the SHO of Buffer Zone police station.
The SHO was directed to be present in court on Tuesday and show cause for his non-appearance at the time the of production of an accused in the court.
The judge also ordered the release of accused Syed Faisal Hasan booked under sections 392/435/427/34 of PPC on a charge of hijacking a vehicle and setting it on fire in the limits of Buffer Zone police. The FIR was lodged on 18-4-2001 by Amir Iqbal Shah, and the accused was arrested on Nov 5 by police.
Three other accused, Babbu, Faheem and Nadir Shah, alleged to be activists of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, have been shown as absconders in the case.
The court noted that on all the three occasions when the accused was produced in court for obtaining remand the SHO, who was also the investigating officer of the case, was not present and instead police constables came to the court to obtain remand, despite directions of the court that the IO of the case should be present in the court.
BAIL GRANTED: The Sindh High Court granted bail to a smuggling accused, Anwar Husain Qureshi, in the sum of Rs500,000.
He was arrested for his alleged involvement in the smuggling of 495kg charas to Ontario, Canada, under the garb of export of garments.
The applicant’s counsel, Abdul Haleem Pirzada, contended before a division bench, comprising Justice Ghulam Nabi Soomro and Justice Ataur Rahman, that there was no direct or indirect evidence against his client.
He argued that there was no evidence that his client was present at the time and place where charas was concealed or in the house from where it was recovered. It was his contention that the customs police recovered drugs from a house situated in a densely-populated area, but did not bother to find any witness from the locality.
Deputy Attorney-General Khurshid A. Hashmi, who appeared for the state, however, opposed the bail application.
The court accepted the arguments of the applicant’s counsel and allowed the bail application.
The applicant moved the High Court against the rejection of his bail application by the Special Court (Control of Narcotic Substances), Karachi. However, the trial court granted bail to co-accused Mohammad Pervez.
According to the prosecution, on May 30, 2000 a preventive officer of the customs received secret information that some persons were trying to smuggle a huge quantity of drugs from Karachi to Canada by air, under the garb of garments’ exports. Police, after investigation, arrested Anwar.
During investigation, he disclosed the name of co-accused Raees Khan who was also apprehended by police. Raees Khan led a police party to a house situated in Osmania Colony, Jehangirabad, from where police recovered 20 cartons wrapped in bleached cotton cloth containing 495kg charas.
Later, another accused, Mohammad Pervez, was also arrested on a lead given by Raees Khan. — APP/PPI
