A court adjourned the hearing a case pertaining to a protest held at the Cantonment Board Clifton’s (CBC) until October 8 over no-show of prosecution witnesses.
The judge concerned expressed his displeasure over the absence of witnesses and ordered the investigation officer (IO) to ensure their presence at the next hearing.
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Dr Arif Alvi, who along with other accused was indicted at the last hearing, was also absent. However, a plea was moved on his behalf requesting the judge to exempt him from the court appearance. The court accepted the PTI leader’s application.
At the previous hearing, Dr Arif Aliv, Khurram Sherzaman, Muhammad Aslam, Adeeba Ahsan, Samar Ali Khan and other accused had denied the charges and pleaded not guilty after the court framed charges against them. The court had ordered recording the prosecution witnesses’ statements at the next hearing.
At a previous hearing, the Additional District and Sessions Judge concerned had granted interim bail to Dr Alvi in the sum of Rs10,000 for a week and directed him to appear personally. But the PTI leader had failed to attend the following hearing and he had been summoned to appear before the court concerned.
When Dr Alivi along with other accused attended the hearing on Aug 28, the judge framed charges but the PTI leader Alvi and pleaded not guilty. The court then ordered the investigation officer (IO) to produce the prosecution witnesses at the next hearing on September 19.
The Darakhshan police on April 8 had registered an FIR against Alvi and six others who led protest demonstrations at the CBC office over the locality’s persisting water supply issues.
The FIR was registered against three CBC elected members, Mohammed Aslam Khaliq, Mohammed Ahmad and Adeeba Hassan, and four PTI leaders, MNA Dr Arif Alvi, lawmakers Samar Ali Khan, Dr Seema Zia and Khurram Sherzaman.
NAB given further time
An accountability court (AC) hearing the Rs320 million corruption reference against Minhaj Qazi, a former security incharge of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement’s headquarters Nine Zero, granted further time to the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to submit comments on the plea bargain filed by the accused at the next hearing on October 5.
Qazi has submitted a plea bargain application and offered to return all of the ill-gotten money to the government. His counsel told the court at a previous hearing that the anti-graft agency had not yet submitted any reply on his client's offer. Upon this, the court had directed the IO to submit a reply till September 19.
A co-accused, MQM activist Faisal Masroor Siddiqui, also requested the court to give him time to make up his mind on the plea bargain. The court granted him time till October 4.
KDA DG’s remand extended
The Judicial Magistrate (South) extended the remand of the director general of the Karachi Development Authority (KDA), Agha Nasir, for two days.
The suspect was arrested on Saturday by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) over passport fraud charges. Nasir was produced before the court at yesterday’s hearing and the investigation officer requested the judge concerned to extend his remand for further interrogation.
The IOP said the suspect could have been involved in several fraud cases along with himself possessing two passports at a time. FIA sources said they had received a complaint from Azhar Hussain Kalwar, deputy assistant director regional of the Passport Office, Saddar, Karachi.
During the course of an inquiry, it transpired that the KDA director general had obtained two Pakistani passports by mis-declaration and concealment of facts, declaring himself to be a businessman instead of a government servant.