Statements of 11 cops recorded in Baldia factory fire case

As many as 11 cops recorded their statements on Thursday before an anti-terrorism court that heard the Baldia factory fire case against Abdul Rehman alias Rehman Bhola, Zubair alias Charia and other accused.

The police officers and other employees of the District West police, in their statements, underlined the fact that they had collected pieces of the burnt bodies. In most cases, the burnt bodies of deceased workers could not be identified.

However, in several cases, the bodies were identified with the help of the mobile phone sims’ record. The witnesses further noted that the bodies were gathered and taken to hospitals for postmortems.

The court ordered making the evidence of the 11 witnesses a part of the trial and fixed June 12 as the date for recording statements from other witnesses. Rehman, an activist of Muttahida Qaumi Movement- Pakistan and other activist Zubair, are also being tried as key accused over the fire incident at Ali Enterprises where 260 workers were killed on September 11, 2012. Other leaders, including Hammad Siddiqui and Rauf Siddiqui, are alleged to have backed the accused.

Hammad, who is yet to be produced before the court, is said to have ordered Rehman and others to set the factory on fire due to the refusal of the owners to pay the demanded extortion money. The trial is being conducted in a court housed at the central prison.

Rehman and two of his companions are also being tried in a case regarding the killing of five people in 2010 in the Rasheedabad area. An additional district and sessions judge indicted Bhola and others in the Rasheedabad case being heard at the central prison.

However, Bhola and two other accused pleaded not guilty. Bhola and other accused in the factory fire case have already denied the charges as a result of which the court is recording the statements of prosecution witnesses.