KARACHI: An antiterrorism court on Wednesday adjourned the hearing of a case pertaining to the killing of aspiring model Naqeebullah Mehsud and three others in a ‘staged’ encounter till a decision by the Sindh High Court on the complainant’s application for transfer of the case to any other ATC.

The then SSP of Malir, Rao Anwar, then DSP Qamar Ahmed Shaikh with their 10 detained and 14 absconding subordinates have been booked in the cases of allegedly killing four men in a fake shoot-out in Shah Latif Town on Jan 13 and foisting fake recoveries of illicit arms and explosives on the victims.

On Wednesday, the case was fixed for hearing before the ATC-II judge.

Former SSP Anwar, the main suspect in the murder case, appeared before the court on bail while around 10 detained policemen — ex-DSP Qamar Ahmed, ASI Allahyar, head constables Mohammad Iqbal, Khizar Hayat, constable Arshad Ali, sub-inspector Mohammad Yasin, constables Ghulam Nazik, Ali, Shafiq Ahmed and Shakil Feroze — were also produced from the prison.

The investigation officer, SSP for investigation Dr Rizwan Ahmed, submitted his report regarding the execution of the non-bailable warrants of the 12 absconding suspects, including ex-SHO Amanullah Marwat, ex-SHO Shoaib Shaikh, alias Shoaib Shooter, ex-ASI Anar Khan, ex-ASI Gada Hussain, ex-HC Mohsin Abbas, ex-HC Sadaqat Hussain Shah, ex-HC Faisal, ex-PC Raja Shamim Mukhtar and ex-PC Rana Riaz.

The IO mentioned that efforts were under way to execute the non-bailable warrants issued by the court for the arrest of the fleeing policemen, but all of them had gone into hiding to avoid arrest. Arguing that there was no likelihood of the absconders’ arrest in the near future, the IO pleaded for permission to initiate the process of their proclamation and attachment of their properties under sections 87 and 88 of the Criminal Procedure Code.

However, the judge observed that the complainant had moved an application seeking transfer of the present proceedings to any other ATC. Therefore, no order in the present case could be passed until the outcome on the application pending in the Sindh High Court. The hearing was adjourned till Nov 19.

Earlier, the complainant’s counsel Salahuddin Panhwar filed an application before the trial court pleading to adjourn the hearing on the second bail plea of ex-SSP Rao Anwar in a case pertaining to allegedly foisting fake recoveries on the victims and lodging false criminal cases against them.

Mohammad Khan, the slain model’s father, had approached the SHC after the ATC-II judge granted post-arrest bail in the murder case to undertrial SSP Rao Anwar, who was kept in a temporary detention facility in Multan Lines in Malir Cantonment.

The applicant had shown no confidence in the ATC-II judge and had sought transfer of Naqeeb’s murder and other connected cases to any other court of law. Later, the trial court had granted him bail in the second case pertaining to foisting false recoveries on the victims before it received any intimation from the SHC.

Published in Dawn, November 1st, 2018