KARACHI, March 7: Justice Mohammed Ashraf Leghari of the Sindh High Court dismissed on Friday the bail application of former DSP Saadullah Bangash and inspector Ghulam Ismail of the CIA, accused in the murder case of Abdul Sattar.
Abdul Sattar was picked up by a CIA party at his house in March 1999. He later died in the custody of the CIA police allegedly as a result of severe torture, and according to the autopsy report, the deceased’s body carried 48 marks of injury/torture.
When the bail plea came up for hearing, the bench, after hearing counsel Barrister Azizullah K. Shaikh and Mohammed Ashraf Qazi, rejected the bail plea, but directed the trial court to conclude the trial within the next four weeks.
Another bench of the high court, comprising Justice Mohammed Roshan Essani and Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali, disposed of a constitutional petition filed by Shariq Kamal challenging the detention of his son Salman Shariq alias Shani.
When the petition came up for hearing, Additional Advocate-General Sindh Sarwar Khan submitted that the home secretary had withdrawn the orders of detention on March 6.
As the counsel for the petitioner did not press the petition after this statement, the bench disposed of the matter as infructuous.
Hearing adjourned: An anti-terrorism appellate (ATA) bench put off on Friday the hearing of an appeal filed by two convicts/appellants, accused in the murder case of three Ulema of Jamia Farooqia, Shah Faisal town, to March 19.
The appeal was being heard by an ATA bench of the Sindh High Court, comprising Justice Sarmad Jalal Osmany and Justice Wahid Bux Brohi.
Syed Iqtidar Ali Hashmi, counsel for appellant/convict Ali Raza alias Ali and Kazim Zaidi, was on his feet when the court rose for the day.
According to the prosecution, the accused intercepted a van of Jamia Farooqia and opened indiscriminate fire killing Maulana Inayatullah, Maulana Hameedur Rahman, Mufti M. Iqbal, Hafiz Talha Iqbal and driver Abdul Hameed. Dr Abdul Rahman of the religious school lodged an FIR at the area police station expressing suspicion that Ali, Hasan Akhtar, Kazim Zaidi and Rizwan alias Abu Hashim were involved in the killings.
The accused were arrested later while attempting to kill Maulana Allah Wasayo and were then sent up for trial in the instant case.
The police at one stage submitted a report under section 497 (2) of CrPC exonerating them, but the administrative judge of the Anti-terrorism Courts rejected the application and ordered that the accused be put to identification parade before two eyewitnesses, namely Mohammed Siddiq and Mohammed Shafiq.
The appellants/convicts were tried and sentenced to death by the ATC-4.
The appellants then preferred this appeal, add agencies.
Murder case: The Administrative Judge of the Anti-terrorism Courts for Karachi Division, Justice Shabbir Ahmed, entrusted on Friday the trial of a murder and dacoity case to the ATC-3.
Earlier, the Model Colony police produced challan against accused Asif Abdul Salam, Asif Rasheed and Safeer Ahmed before the administrative judge on charges of killing Mohammed Mushtaq Bajwa and committing dacoity on 21-1-2003 in the house of the deceased in Alamgir Society, Model Colony.
According to the prosecution, the accused took Mushtaq hostage at gunpoint when his wife went out to leave her children to school van. The accused secured all the valuables and during search laid their hands on ATM cards and cheque books of the deceased. The accused forcibly obtained cheques and went to the bank for encashment, but they failed to encash the cheques as the sign of the account holder/deceased differed.
The accused then went back to Mushtaq’s house and tortured him to death. They dumped his body in an empty plot near by.
Neighbours spotted the body and they informed the police about it. The police arrested Asif Rasheed on suspicion. During interrogation, Asif confessed to the crime and also informed the police about his accomplices, including two absconders, Aslam and Mudassir.
Nine-year-old Khajista, Mushtaq’s daughter, identified the accused who held the entire family hostage for more than 20 hours.