Jail officials fail to present Shahrukh Jatoi before court

Jail authorities were unable to present Shahrukh Jatoi before a judicial magistrate on Wednesday in a case pertaining to the convict fleeing the country in 2013, Geo News reported.

As the judicial magistrate in Malir expressed anger over Jatoi’s absence, the prison authorities said the convict was a death row prisoner who could not be brought to court. They further argued that the case had already been declared sensitive.

“The provincial home department has also restricted Jatoi’s movement,” the jail authorities informed the court. They said that a letter had been written to the home department requesting that case hearings be held in jail.

“However, we have not received a notification as yet from the Sindh Home Department on the request,” they added. Subsequently, the judicial magistrate directed the home department to submit a report on the notification and Jatoi’s movement.

The hearing of the case has been adjourned until July 7. Jatoi had fled to the UAE illegally using false travel documents on December 27, 2012, after murdering private university student Shahzeb Khan. He was arrested in 2013 in Dubai and brought back to Pakistan.

The CCTV footage from the airport gave Jatoi away, leading to a case filed against him for fleeing the country following the murder.

Shahzeb murder case

On December 23, 2017, Jatoi, the son of an influential feudal lord, and other defendants in the Shahzeb Khan murder case were released on bail after Shahzeb’s father submitted an affidavit in support of the defendants’ bail applications.

Shahzeb was gunned down by Jatoi in a posh locality of Karachi on December 25, 2012. An anti-terrorism court in 2013 had awarded death sentences to Jatoi and Siraj Talpur, while life sentences were awarded to Sajjad Ali Talpur and Ghulam Murtaza Lashari.