KARACHI: A sessions court has rejected the bail plea of a domestic help who allegedly poisoned her 75-year-old employer and his wife, with the former having died during treatment.

Housemaid Sakina had filed an application through her counsel before Additional District and Sessions Court Judge Aziz ur Rehman Junejo, seeking post-arrest bail.

After hearing the prosecution and defence arguments, the court dismissed the bail plea, noting that the applicant failed to make a case for bail. “Prima facie, reasonable grounds exist to believe that the applicant is involved in the commission of the alleged offence,” the court observed.

The court also observed that on the day of the incident, she visited the place and was the last person to attend the house. The applicant was required to explain the circumstances surrounding the death of her employer but she failed to do so. Instead, she provided different stories in her statements which, the court indicated, showed malafide intent on her part, it said.

Accused Sakina has been charged with poisoning complainant’s septuagenarian father

According to state prosecutor Muhammad Ashraf Bhatti, complainant Muhammad Ishtiaq Ahmed, who resides in England, informed the police that on May 7, he received a phone call stating that his parents were hospitalised and their health was deteriorating.

Upon his arrival in Karachi, he discovered that his father, Mushtaq Ahmed, 75, and his mother, Jamal Agha, 68, were on ventilators and in an unconscious condition in a private hospital. After medical examinations, the complainant learned that his parents had been poisoned. Subsequently, the police arrested the domestic help.

During the treatment, the complainant’s father died, while his mother was discharged from the hospital after treatment.

The court noted that all the witnesses, including the victim Ms Agha, fully supported the prosecution’s case against the applicant in their statements under Section 161 of the CrPC.

The court observed that during the investigation, the applicant was arrested, and the police recovered a mobile phone, jewellery, and other belongings of the deceased based on her pointation.

The case was registered at the Sharea Faisal police station under Section 302 (murder), 337-J (causing hurt by mean of a poison) and 34 (common intention) of the Pakistan Penal Code.

Published in Dawn, July 20th, 2024