Soldier held for colleague’s murder remanded in police custody

The administrative judge of the anti-terrorism courts on Tuesday handed over Ali Murtaza, a paramilitary soldier held for a colleague’s murder, to police on physical remand till November 2.

Sharea Faisal police produced the suspect in court with a request for his remand. The case investigation officer informed the court that the victim, Mashooq Ali, had been shot dead by the accused, Ali Murtaza, over a minor dispute at the Rangers barrack in the wee hours of October 23.

He said the weapon used in the murder had been recovered and the police requested the judge to remand the suspect in their custody for a month.

The judge, however, allowed the investigators to keep the suspect with them on physical remand till November 2 and directed the police to submit a progress report at the next hearing.

Earlier, the IO had produced the accused for a remand before a judicial magistrate, but the magistrate had declined the request by observing that the offence falls within the ambit of the Anti-Terrorism Act 1997.

Accroding to SHO Sharea Faisal Raja Tariq, both soldiers were deployed in Block-17 of Gulshan-e-Iqbal. In the wee hours of Sunday, Mashooq went to the washroom. After some time, Murtaza also went to use the washroom and knocked. When Mashooq came out, the two soldiers had a verbal spar during which Murtaza picked up his G-3 rifle and opened fire on Mashooq. The SHO said Mashooq had suffered three bullet wounds to his chest.