Indictment of seven police officers deferred in Naqeebullah murder case

An anti-terrorism court (ATC) deferred on Thursday the indictment of seven police officers in Naqeebullah murder case.

Former Shah Latif Town SHO Amanullah Marwat, along with former Sohrab Goth SHO Shoaib Shaikh and five other policemen — Gada Hussain, Syed Sadaqat Hussain, Mohsin Abbas, Raja Shamim Mukhtar and Riaz Ahmed — had surrendered before the court in May this year, after absconding for more than five years.

They turned up around five months after the court exonerated former Malir SSP Rao Anwar, who was the prime suspect, and 17 others from the charges of extrajudicial murders of Naqeebullah Mehsud, a young aspiring fashion model hailing from South Waziristan, and three others in an alleged staged encounter at an abandoned farmhouse on the outskirts of Karachi in January 2018.

During the hearing, Marwat, Gada, Sadaqat, Mohsin, Shamim Mukhtar and Riaz were produced from the jail, while Shoaib turned up on bail. The ATC-XVI incharge judge deferred the indictment of the accused after he was informed that an application regarding transfer of the case to another court is pending for disposal before the ATCs administrative judge. The case transfer application was filed earlier because the court was vacant, without a presiding officer. The judge noted that the court had received no information about the disposal of the application.

The case was adjourned till November 14 for framing of charges on the accused. The court also ordered the investigation officer, DSP Balaghat, to appear on the next hearing. The six accused, who are in jail custody, were arrested on June 15 after the court dismissed their bail applications.