Supreme Court of Pakistan. — Photo by AFP

ISLAMABAD: During Friday’s hearing of the suo motu case over the murder of 20-year-old Shahzeb Khan, Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry stated that if the suspects involved in the killing were not arrested by Saturday, then police officials would appear in court on Monday without their uniforms, DawnNews reported.

The chief justice was irked over the absence of Inspector General Sindh Police Fayyaz Leghari and Advocate General Sindh Abdul Fateh Malik from the hearing.

In his remarks, Chief Justice Iftikhar stated that if a poor man’s child was killed, the police came under pressure from the influential.

He added that authorities should have confiscated the properties and cancelled the passports of the accused but none of that had been done.

The chief justice said those who facilitated the suspects’ escape should be taken into custody.

Moreover, Justice Gulzar Ahmed inquired as to whether the police was “asleep” when a crime of such immense magnitude was committed in Karachi.

Additional IG Sindh told the bench that the police was carrying out raids to arrest the suspects.

The bench moreover directed that IG Sindh and the advocate general appear in court by 12 pm and ensure the suspects’ arrest by Friday evening.

After 12 pm, the additional inspector general of Sindh police told the court that the IG could not get a flight to reach Islamabad.

Subsequently, the chief justice directed the authorities to arrest the suspects by Saturday and present them in the trial court. He moreover directed the police to submit a report afterwards in the Supreme Court registrar’s office.

The case’s hearing was subsequently adjourned to Jan 7 (Monday).

Khan was gunned down on Dec 25, 2012 within the remit of the Darakhshan police station and the Chief Justice of Pakistan has taken suo motu notice in this case.

On Tuesday, the Supreme Court had taken notice of the murder in Karachi and had issued notices to the Sindh advocate general and the provincial police chief and summoned a report on the case today.