ATC orders jail officials to bring Bobby, Capri to next hearing

Citing security threats, prison authorities reiterate request for in-house trial of alleged LeJ militants 

The non-appearance of two alleged Lashkar-e-Jhangvi terrorists, Ishaq alias Bobby and Asim alis Capri, irked the judge of anti-terrorism court on Friday as he once again ordered the jail authorities to ensure their presence on the next hearing date of April 28.

On behalf of the prison authorities, the court was informed that it could be dangerous to move the two accused to the court from the prison premises. They requested that an in-house court should be set up so that the legal proceedings could be started inside the central prison premises. 

The court was told that the IG Prison did not allow moving the two men to the court and a letter had been sent to the home department to make arrangements for conducting their trial inside the prison.

The court, however, passed orders to produce the accused before the court on April 28, observing that the court had not received any notification regarding the transfer of cases.

Ishaq alias Bobby and Asim alias Capri are accused of killing famous qawaal Amjad Sabri and also murdering several paramilitary soldiers, polio workers and military police personnel.

The CTD police have also registered four cases of possession of illegal arms against the two accused at the CTD police station.

The court was informed that the two men were involved in high-profile murder cases and they should be tried inside the prison. The report referred to the directive of the IG prisons.

The report further said the home department had been approached for holding the trial of the two accused in a court housed inside the central prison. Bobby, Capri and others are alleged to have killed a local leader of Pakistan Muslim League- Nawaz Waqar Shah on April 10, 2014.

The two accused, while recording their confessional statements under Section 164 of the Criminal Procedure Code, had told the judicial magistrate (West) that they had killed four Rangers soldiers in Ittehad Town. They also admitted to killing two Military Police personnel near the Saddar Parking Plaza on July 19 this year.

They have already been identified by the witnesses as the murderers of the four Rangers soldiers at an identification parade held by the judicial magistrate.

Child abduction case 

The judicial magistrate (West) issued show-cause notice to the investigation officer (IO) for having failed to present the charge sheet against 11 people, including four women, who were allegedly involved in kidnapping a new-born child from a local hospital on March 23.

Some accused had kidnapped the child from the Qatar Hospital and the baby was sold to some people, who too wanted to sell the baby on a higher price. However, they were arrested in an Afghan locality near Sohrab Goth on March 24. The IO, who had failed to present the charge sheet, requested to the court to give him further time.

The court gave him time till April 15.