ISLAMABAD, Oct 16: The Islamabad High Court on Tuesday restrained the police from conducting a fresh inquiry into a murder after the widow of the deceased accused senior police officers of manipulating the case in order to absolve the accused.

In her petition, Mumtaz Bibi, the widow of Zahoor Ahmed Khan, alleged that Dr Wasim Kausar, an adviser to the chairman of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), Inspector General of Islamabad Police Bani Amin Khan and his son Ali Amin had pressured the investigators to clear Riaz Karim, the vice chancellor of Sarhad University Islamabad and the owner of Rawal Cadet College, who is the main accused in the murder case.

Khan, a property dealer, was shot dead by an unidentified motorcyclist near a hotel at G-9/4 on July 14, 2006. The police found a brand new motorcycle without registration number near the crime scene.

Investigation later showed that the bike had been sold from a showroom in Gujrat to Mohammad Ansar, an alleged assassin. After his arrest in the federal capital in March 2011, Ansar, a resident of Gujrat, confessed to murdering Khan after receiving Rs500,000 from Karim. The same month, Karim, who also hails from Gujrat, was rounded up and is now confided in the Adiala Jail.

Raja Inam Ameen Minhas, the petitioner’s counsel, on Tuesday informed Justice Mohammad Anwar Khan Kasi that when a joint investigation team arrested the accused and submitted the challan to the court of an additional sessions judge in March 2011, Karim maneuvered certain documents and filed a complaint against the widow, accusing her of preparing a false case against him.

He said in September 2012, Malik Yousuf, the then senior superintendent of the capital police, submitted a revised challan to the court. The court fixed the matter for October 6 to frame charges. However, the accused managed to get another adjournment without being indicted.

He alleged that in connivance with Dr Kausar, IGP Bani Amin, SSP Malik Yousuf and SP Sajid Kayani, the accused had managed to alter police records and files. “Surprisingly, he is also in possession of copies of the case diaries which are missing from the actual record,” he added.

According to advocate Minhas, on the basis of the fabricated record, the accused filed another complaint to the court of the ASJ who ordered the Margalla police for a fresh inquiry.

The police, he added, have started to reinvestigate the matter and summoned the witnesses and the widow for recording their statements.

The lawyer pointed out that under the criminal justice system, the judge was not authorised to refer the matter to the police for a fresh inquiry after submission of the challan.

The petition said the involvement of senior police officers had resulted in the transfer of the case from the joint investigation team to the SP and now to the SHO. The accused had also applied for bail after arrest with the Supreme Court which was turned down, according to the petition.

When contacted, Javed Akbar Shah, a counsel for Karim, told Dawn that his client was innocent and had been dragged into the case. He said the family of the deceased wanted to blackmail Karim by preparing a false case against him.

Update: The three accused in the case, namely Ansar, Riaz Karim and Shahbaz, were acquitted by an Islamabad District and Sessions Court on March 3, 2014.