KARACHI, July 2: An anti-terrorism court on Wednesday put off hearing of a murder and gang-rape case after recording statements of two prosecution witnesses.

Judge Arshad Noor Khan, who had awarded one of the accused, Ghulam Waris, capital punishment in the same case in December 2001, fixed Thursday for the next hearing after deposition by ASIs Ahmed Qureshi and Mohammed Aslam.

Ghulam Waris, a lance naik of the Bhitai Rangers, was convicted of the murder of his newly-wed friend, Munawwar, and subjecting the victim’s wife to gang-rape in association with some other accused.

Mohammed Naeem and Khalid were declared absconders in the case. Naeem was arrested on July 9 last year.

The judge had, however, exonerated co-accused Maqsood Ahmed giving him the benefit of doubt.

The couple was married just 17 days before Munawwar was killed in his flat — Classics View, Block-15, Gulistan-i-Jauhar — on June 9, 2001.

The prosecution had maintained that Waris intended to rape the bride on the very day of the marriage. Naeem and his accomplices, it claimed, had killed Munawwar whereas the accused were involved in the gang-rape of his wife.

The prosecution said that the woman’s throat was also slit after the gang-rape and the accused fled from the scene presuming her dead. However, neighbours rushed her to the Jinnah Post-graduate Medical Centre and she survived due to prompt treatment there.

The Sharea Faisal police arrested Maqsood and Waris after obtaining the woman’s statement.

Special public prosecutor Naimat Ali Randhawa has, so far, examined five prosecution witnesses, including the woman, against Naeem.

The woman had identified Naeem as one of the rapists, who had slit her throat.