KARACHI: Police informed on Tuesday the administrative judge of antiterrorism courts that they have yet to find any evidence against three detained suspects in a case pertaining to the murder of a Chinese national and asked the court to release them.

The police report said that a joint investigation team (JIT) had grilled the suspects, but it could not find any incriminating evidence against them.

Saqib Ahmed, Rehan Hashim and Mohammad Aamir Khan have been booked for allegedly killing 48-year-old Chen Zhu, managing director of a shipping firm, in February near Zamzama Park in Defence Housing Authority.

Initially, the police said that Saqib was a son of one of the partners of the same firm, while Hashim was an employee of the company; they had allegedly hired an assassin to eliminate the MD.

Investigating officer Syed Mohammad Sarfaraz of the Counter-Terrorism Department submitted an investigation report before the administrative court and recommended that the three detained suspects be released under Section 497(II) of the Criminal Procedure Code since no solid evidence had so far been found against them during the course of investigation.

According to the report, the closed-circuit television camera footage of the incident was sent to the Punjab Forensic Science Agency in Lahore for analysis, but assailants could not be identified due to poor quality of the footage.

It further said that since the deceased had fired and demoted many senior officials of the company, the Pakistani directors of the firm were unhappy with him.

The investigation report further said that mobile phones of Saqib and Hashim were also sent to the technical branch for analysis and two SMS regarding the murder of Chen Zhu were found in the mobile of Saqib, adding that during questioning both suspects had admitted that they had asked their employee Amir to keep an eye on the victim and monitor his activities.

Since there was a strong possibility of direct or indirect involvement of the suspects in the case, the report said that the home department had constituted a JIT to interrogate the suspects.

However, the JIT had declared Saqib and Hashim ‘grey’ and Amir ‘white’, it added.

The investigation report further contended that despite all circumstances, no incriminating evidence has so far been found against the suspects and requested the court to set them free until any direct evidence comes on record against them.

The administrative judge of ATCs sent the case to ATC-IX with direction to decide it in accordance with law.

Initially, the CTD claimed to have arrested two suspects on May 4 from a bus terminal in Hyderabad after they arrived there from Sukkur while Aamir Khan was shown arrested on May 11 and Rustam was an absconder in the case. Later, they were remanded to prison.

The prosecution said that another Chinese man, Yefun, was also travelling with the victim when their vehicle came under attack, but he remained unhurt while Hasan Ali Abbas, a passer-by, was injured in the attack.

The CTD registered a case under Sections 302 (premeditated murder), 324 (attempted murder) and 34 (common intention) of the Pakistan Penal Code read with Section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997.

On May 8, a senior officer of the CTD during a press conference said that Saqib was the son of one of the partners of the same firm, while Hashim was an employee of the company and they had hired an assassin.

Published in Dawn, June 13th, 2018