KARACHI, Sept 17: Police on Wednesday submitted in court an interim charge-sheet in the murder case of fashion designer Sheikh Amir Hassan, placing too much reliance on the statements of two prosecution witnesses and a confessional statement of one of the suspects recorded during initial interrogations.

This emerged when an investigation officer submitted an interim charge-sheet to the court of a civil and judicial magistrate (south).

The bullet-riddled body of Mr Hassan was found on Aug 30 in his DHA, Phase V, residence, where he lived alone. A case (FIR 215/08) was registered under Section 302/34 of the Pakistan Penal Code at the Clifton police station on the complaint of the deceased’s brother, Jalal Hussain.

While the testimonies of the two prosecution witnesses have been recorded by the judicial magistrate under Section 164 of the criminal procedure code, the crucial confessional statement of one of the suspects has been recorded by police under Section 161 of the CrPC.

Statements recorded by police under Section 161 of the CrPC are not admissible as evidence in court.

According to the charge-sheet, police arrested the suspects – brothers Ameer Hamza and Mohammad Saad Farooq – near Zamzama park in Clifton on Sept 3 and recovered from their custody a car (AB-6022) and a gun.

According to the prosecution, Mr Hamza admitted to killing Mr Hassan, saying that the fashion designer had tried, albeit unsuccessfully, to sexually abuse him. The suspect is said to have committed the crime with the help of his brother.

Mr Hamza is quoted by the prosecution as having told the police that the deceased had promised to make him a top-notch model. The prosecution described the gun recovered from the custody of the suspects as a murder weapon. However, it has not yet submitted in court the relevant ballistic report.

It is worth noting that no empty shell casings were found at the scene of crime.

The investigation officer says in the charge-sheet that the driver-cum-servant of the deceased, Mohammad Tariq, told the police under Section 161 of the CrPC that he saw a long-haired man along with another person sitting in a car parked in front of the victim’s house when he came out to offer the morning prayers at around 6am.

One of the suspects is said to have worn long hair at one time.

Interestingly, the driver’s testimony recorded by the judicial magistrate under Section 164 of the CrPC makes no mention of the “long-haired man”. However, it does say that the driver, who lived on the top floor of the victim’s house, saw two men sitting in a car parked in front of the house when he went to say his morning prayers at around 6am.

According to the driver’s testimony, he found his employer dead when he came to wake him up at around 11 in the morning. He also says that Mr Hamza used to come to the victim’s residence frequently.

The charge-sheet says that according to the call record of Mr Hassan’s cellphone, he had received a last call from a SIM (subscriber identity module) registered in the name of Ajay Kumar.

In his testimony, Mr Kumar, who is a neighbour of the suspects, says that he sold his SIM to Mr Hamza about a year ago but the latter had not got it transferred to his name.

Waqas, a friend of the suspects, says in his testimony that Mr Hamza told him at one point that Mr Hassan had promised him to make him a top model. He adds that Mr Hamza called him on Sept 2 and they met on the same day. He alleges that when he asked his friend why he had trimmed his hair and why his cellphone had lately been off, Mr Hamza said that he was under tremendous stress because of his involvement in the murder of Mr Hassan.

According to the prosecution, 18 witnesses, including the deceased’s brother and complainant Jalal Hussain, driver Mohammad Tariq, Ajay Kumar, Waqas, sub-inspector Tariq Khursheed, Ali Saleem, MLO Dr Abdul Jabbar of the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre, head constable Khalid, Faisal and others have been mentioned in the charge-sheet.

The judge, Mohammad Umer Awan, transferred the interim charge-sheet to the court of the district and sessions judge, south, for trial.