LAHORE: A sessions court on Wednesday indicted former senior superintendent of police Mufakhar Adeel and two others in the murder case of former assistant advocate general Shahbaz Tatla.

Additional District & Sessions Judges Arshad Javed directed the prosecution to present its witnesses on Oct 12 after the suspects pleaded not guilty, as charges were read before the court.

Other suspects include Asad Bhatti and Irfan Ali.

Naseerabad police had already submitted the case challan before the court, saying the suspects confessed their crime. It said the prime suspect, Mr Adeel, admitted that he disposed of the body of his lawyer friend, Tatla, in a plastic drum filled with acid. He later got the crime scene (a rented house) washed in order to remove any evidence of his offense, with the help of his accomplices.

Both Adeel and Tatla had gone missing on Feb 7, 2020. The police initially arrested Asad Bhatti, a common friend of the both, who during interrogation revealed how the crime was committed. The third suspect, Irfan Ali, was the owner of the shop from where the acid, used in the crime, was purchased.

The ex-police officer had surrendered to the police after a month of his mysterious disappearance.

The counsel for Mr Adeel denied the allegations and maintained that his client had not made any confession. He said the police failed to collect any evidence to establish that the former law officer was dead. He further said the statement of a suspect in police custody had no value in the eye of law as the courts rendered sentence on the basis of evidence only.

Published in Dawn, October 8th, 2020