Man accused of minor’s attempted rape sent on judicial remand

A 70-year-old man facing charges of kidnapping and attempting to rape an eight-year-old girl last week was sent to prison on judicial remand after the girl failed to identify him in the courtroom of a judicial magistrate on Friday.

As Abdul Azeez appeared before the judicial magistrate (West), the girl was asked to identify the accused, but she failed to do so. At this, the parents of the minor became upset and declared her “a psychopath”.

The lawyer for the defendant also told the court that his client was a psychopath and asked that he be freed as he was innocent. The court however ordered Azeez to be sent to prison on judicial remand. The kidnap and attempted rape case was registered at the Shershah police station.

KDA graft cases

An accountability court adjourned the hearing till February 19 of a trial of former Karachi Development Authority (KDA) director general Nasir Abbas and KDA charged parking incharge Ubaid Ahmed Khan over corruption charges.

Earlier, the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) prosecutor asked the court to grant further time for filing a corruption reference against the two. The court was informed that NAB had prepared a reference and sent it to the chairman of the bureau for approval.

The attorney for Nasir Abbas said his client was being kept in detention for a case which had not yet been prepared and approved by the NAB chairman despite the passage of 90 days.

The court directed the investigation officer (IO) not to delay the process and to file the reference against the two accused at the next hearing. Previously, the IO had said that proofs of corruption had been gathered against Abbas and Khan, who were accused of transferring dozens of plots to different parties on the basis of fake documents.

The accused also allegedly converted residential plots into commercial one in Gulistan-e-Jauhar. Besides, Abbas is facing charges of illegally setting up marriage halls and petrol pumps.

The IO said Abbas was involved in the misuse of his authority as director general by earning huge sums by auctioning government lands and plots. The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) had arrested Abbas on September 16 over fraud charges. The arrest was made by the Anti-Human Trafficking Circle after the former KDA chief was accused of obtaining two Pakistani passports through mis-declaration and concealment of facts, posing to be a businessman instead of a government servant.

While the suspect was granted bail in the passport fraud case in the sum of Rs0.1 million, he was later remanded in police custody in a case pertaining to money laundering and corruption charges.