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AJ turns down police plea for suspect’s remand
Sunday, July 05, 2009
By our correspondent
Karachi
The Administrative Judge (AJ) of the Anti-Terrorism Courts (ATC) in Karachi turned down the remand request for a suspect arrested for his alleged involvement in Gharibabad blast case and directed the investigation officer (IO) to release him on bail.
The IO was also directed to submit the charge-sheet of the case within seven days.
Three people, including a woman, were killed while 10 others were injured when explosive material used for making fireworks exploded at a house being used as fireworks factory in Gharibabad on June 26. The police showed the arrest of Badaruz Zaman, who used to trade fireworks, while three people, Azeem, Haji Yaseen and Babar, were shown as absconders in the case.
The IO produced Zaman before the AJ for obtaining further remand in the explosive substance case. The AJ, Justice Mahmood Alam Rizvi, took notice of improper investigation in the case because nothing incriminatory evidence was produced against the suspect who was being detained since June 27. He observed that at the last date of hearing, the IO was directed to raid the places from where the explosive material was being supplied but from the diary sheets, no such place was specifically mentioned by the IO.
The suspect’s counsel, Naheed Afzal, submitted that prima facie the case did not fall under the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) and the police did not show any connection with the premises where the explosive material was kept and later subsequently exploded.
He said that the suspect managed a small provision store in the poor locality of Gharibabad and he used to keep a small quantity of firecrackers for jubilation. After the explosion, he voluntarily deposited the stuff before the police. The counsel further said that the police implicated the suspect with ulterior motives while the main accused, who actually possessed explosive material and the premises, have been absconding and as per diary sheets, no concrete efforts were made by the police to arrest them.
The special public prosecutor failed to controvert the propositions argued by the applicant’s counsel. The AJ observed that prima facie no evidence was available against the suspect to connect him with the main case, and that, he may be released forthwith on personal surety. However, the police may arrest him as and when concrete evidence was found against him.
The AJ directed the IO to submit the charge-sheet of the case within seven days.
Kidnapping-for-ransom case: Meanwhile, the AJ accepted the charge-sheet against three suspects in a kidnapping-for-ransom case and sent the case to the ATC-I for trial.
Saleem Chandio, Niaz Hussain and Waheed Kalhoro were arrested for kidnapping Mohammad Junaid from Sukkhan on August 18 last year. The police said that the accused kept the abductee for more than two months and released him after receiving Rs2.7 million in ransom.
The IO told the AJ that the complainant did not identify the fourth suspect, Ali Raza, in the identification parade. The AJ accepted the police report and ordered to release him if not required in other cases.
Sugar mill case: The Sindh High Court (SHC), modifying its interim order, directed a sugar mill to not sell 2,200 metric tons of white refined sugar lying in its warehouse.
Naveed Abrar had filed a suit for the recovery of Rs101.2 million against the defendant mill, submitting that Najma Sugar Mill had not released its 2,200 metric tons of sugar despite the agreement.
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ISSN 1563-9479 
