KARACHI, Sept 10: A civil judge and judicial magistrate, south, on Wednesday recorded the statements of three witnesses under Section 164 of the criminal procedure code in the case of murder of a fashion designer, and directed the investigation officer to submit the charge-sheet by Sept 18.

The IO produced three witnesses, Mohammad Tariq, driver of the deceased, Raj Kumar, a neighbour, and Waqas, a friend of suspect Ameer Hamza, in court.

In his statement, Tariq said he had been working with Sheikh Amir for the last many months and lived on the first floor of Amir’s DHA Phase-5 residence while the victim lived on the ground floor. He added that on Aug 30 he had seen two men sitting in a car parked in front of the house when he was going to offer the morning prayers.

On his return from the mosque, Tariq said, he came to Mr Amir’s room to wake him up, but found him dead. He said he immediately informed a friend of Mr Amir’s about the death, who later called the police.

Raj Kumar told the court that he had sold his subscriber identity module (SIM) to Ameer Hamza around a year ago, who did transfer it to his name. The police claimed that the deceased had received the last call from the same SIM.

Waqas in his statement said Ameer Hamza told him that Sheikh Amir was his friend and he had offered Ameer Hamza to groom him into a model. The investigation officer submitted the statements of the suspects and the witnesses recorded by the police under Section 161 of the CrPC to the court on Wednesday.

The police with the help of the record of the deceased’s cellular phone had arrested suspects Ameer Hamza Awan, 23, and Mohammad Saad Farooq, 20, on Sept 3. Both suspects have been remanded in jail custody.

The bullet-riddled body of Sheikh Amir was found in the small hours of Aug 30 in his home, where he was living alone. According to the prosecution, one of the suspects, Ameer Hamza, had admitted in his confessional statement recorded by the police under Section 161 of CrPC that he, with the help of his brother, killed Sheikh Amir as the victim had sexually abused him by giving him a heavy dose of tranquillizers in juice, adding that he had met Mr Amir around three years back. Since then, they had become friends and the deceased had offered to make him into a model. The weapon used in the murder was also recovered, it added.

A case (FIR 215/08) was registered under Section 302/34 of the Pakistan Penal Code at the Clifton police station on the complaint of the deceased’s brother, Jalal Hussain.