KARACHI, Jan 29: The chief of the banned Lashkar-i-Jhangvi, Akram Lahori, and his two associates were indicted on Wednesday in another sectarian killing case by an anti-terrorism court.

This was the third case in which the Lashkar men were formally arraigned. They are being tried inside the Central Prison.

The chief of the banned outfit and two other co-accused, Ataullah and Mohammed Azam, denied their involvement in the sectarian killing when Judge Khan Pervaiz Chang of the ATC-4 framed charges against them.

Pleading “not guilty”, the three defendants preferred to be tried in the case and the special public prosecutor, Maula Bux Bhatti, examined first two prosecution witnesses in the case.

The case pertained to the killing of Agha Abbas, owner of a juice centre, on May 25 last year at Nazimabad No. 1, within the limits of Rizvia Society police.

The prosecution witnesses, Jawad and Fazal Ahmed, were also cross-examined by the pauper advocate, Mohammed Ashraf Mughul. The judge put off the hearing of the case till 29th when the prosecution would produce further evidence against the accused persons.

Meanwhile, the judge did not accept the reply of the jail superintendent to a show-cause notice issued to him by the court for not producing the accused before the court during the last hearing.

The judge had to put off the hearing on Monday when the jail authorities failed to produce the accused before the court despite the fact that the trial is being conducted on the premises of the Central Prison.

Judge Khan Pervaiz Chang of the ATC-2 issued show-cause notice to the jail superintendent in this connection.

Jail superintendent Rashid Saeed appeared before the court and submitted his written reply to the show-cause notice. The superintendent informed the court that the accused had not been produced due to the negligence on part of the lower staff.