Remand of FIA cop, three others extended

A judicial magistrate of the East district extended on Saturday the physical remand of FIA Inspector Adnan Ali and three other accused in the heritage school demolition case for three days and permitted a CTD police team to complete interrogations.

Inspector Ali, Abid Basheer, Amin and Sajjad Basheer are facing the trial over involvement in the demolition of the Jufelhurst School located in the Soldier Bazaar area. The school was razed on April 8.

Earlier, the FIA inspector told the court that he and his accomplices had not destroyed any walls of the school. He said his plot was located on a separate piece of land. 

School headmaster Muhammad Shafiq has alleged that a certain political party was behind the scenes. He said he was summoned by the Soldier Bazaar SHO and the FIA inspector had threatened him with dire consequences. He said he had submitted an application to the police station on April 9 for the registration of an FIR. The court directed the investigation officer to submit a detailed report at the next hearing.

Safoora bus attack case

An anti-terrorism court (ATC) has granted interim bail to an arms dealer, Zahid Motiwala, who is suspected to be involved in the Safoora bus case attack.

Motiwala, who had earlier gone into hiding in a bid to avoid arrest, obtained bail in the sum of Rs200,000.

The ATC was told that the absconding accused had surrendered before Sindh High Court, which had granted him protective bail in the sum of Rs100,000. The SHC had also directed the accused to approach the trial court within a week.  The ATC granted interim bail to Zahid Motiwala until the next hearing on May 13.