KARACHI: A sessions’ court on Saturday reserved its judgement on applications seeking confirmation of interim pre-arrest bail of two suspects booked in a case pertaining to death of Dr Maha Shah in Defence Housing Authority.

Initially, the police said the young lady doctor practicing at a private hospital in Clifton had allegedly committed suicide by shooting herself in her home in DHA on Aug 18.

Later, the police booked her friends — Junaid Khan, Waqas Hasan, Dr Irfan Qureshi along with two others — under relevant sections of the law pertaining to poisoning (the victim) to death.

On Saturday, two suspects Junaid Khan and Waqas Hasan moved applications before additional district and sessions judge (South) Samina Ghauri, seeking confirmation of interim bail before arrest granted to them earlier against surety of Rs50,000 each.

Their defence counsel — advocates Khawaja Naveed Ahmed and Rehman Ghous — asked the court to confirm pre-arrest bail of the applicants, maintaining that they would not misuse their interim bail and would not abscond from the court.

On the other hand, advocate Abbas Razvi for the complainant vehemently opposed the applications for bail confirmation arguing that the applicants were wealthy people, who could abscond abroad by misusing the concession of interim bail.

Secondly, the counsel added that there were apprehensions that the suspects could tamper with the evidence, as they had allegedly gotten tampered the post-mortem report of the victim, which showed that Dr Maha Shah had allegedly committed suicide instead of being shot by someone else.

Mr Razvi argued that applicant Junaid was a habitual offender as he was previously implicated in two other FIRs, adding that both the applicants had to prove mala fide on the part of the complainant and the police for the sake of confirmation of their interim bail.

The defence counsel contended that two FIRs in which Junaid was previously nominated had already been declared C-class (cancelled) by the police, adding that Junaid himself paid for the ambulance that took Dr Maha to the hospital.

The counsel further contended that applicant Junaid and Dr Maha did not meet on the day of the alleged incident.

The state prosecutor and the investigating officer Sub-Inspector Sharafat also opposed the pleas for bail confirmation.

After hearing arguments from the parties, the judge reserved her judgement on the applications to be announced on Sept 21.

TV anchor murder case

A sessions’ court on Saturday issued non-bailable warrant for arrest of a suspect, Adil Zaman, who is absconding in a case pertaining to murder of TV anchorperson Mureed Abbas and another individual over shady investments worth billions of rupees.

Police detained and booked Atif Zaman and his brother Adil Zaman for allegedly killing his two business partners — Mureed Abbas and Khizar Hayat — in the Khayaban-i-Bukhari area of DHA on the night of July 9, 2019.

On Saturday, the matter came up before additional district and sessions judge (South) Faraz Ahmed Chandio for indictment of the suspects.

Suspect Atif Zaman was produced from prison, but his brother Adil Zaman failed to appear before the court.

Advocate Ajab Khan Khattak, who was provided by the court as defence counsel for Atif Zaman, was present.

Advocate Jibran Asif for the complainant provided an order passed by the Supreme Court of Pakistan, which had cancelled the post-arrest bail granted to Adil Zaman by the Sindh High Court on May 19, 2020.

The judge deferred indictment of both the suspects due to absence of Adil Zaman and his defence counsel.

The judge fixed the matter for indictment of the suspects on Oct 10.

Meanwhile, the judge issued a non-bailable warrant for arrest of the absconding suspect Adil Zaman with the direction to the IO to arrest him and produce him before the court on the next date of hearing.

Published in Dawn, September 20th, 2020