An anti-terrorism court on Wednesday charged four men with the murder of former lawmaker Ali Raza Abidi and declared as many proclaimed offenders. After a few deferments, the ATC-XI inside the Central Prison indicted Abdul Haseeb, Muhammad Ghazali, Muhammad Farooq and Abu Bakr under sections 302 (premeditated murder) and 34 (common intention) of the Pakistan Penal Code.
The suspects, who are in judicial custody, were produced in the court by police. The judge read out the charges to them to which they pleaded not guilty and opted to contest. The trial of the suspects will begin on November 30.
The court has issued a direction to the investigation officer of the case to bring prosecution witnesses to the next hearing. Police had arrested the suspects in March earlier this year in connection with the killing of the ex-lawmaker.
Four more suspects, Mustafa, Faizan, Hasnain and Bilal, are absconding and the court has declared them proclaimed offenders.
Muttahida Qaumi Movement ‘s ex-MNA Abidi was shot dead outside his residence in Defence Housing Authority by motorcyclists in an apparent targeted attack in December last year.
The court has already issued permanent warrants of arrest against the absconding suspects. The court had previously ordered forfeiture of their properties. At the time of the arrest of the four suspects, CTD official SSP Naveed Ahmed Khawaja had said that eight people were involved in the murder and the mastermind was still at large.
He claimed that a foreign spy agency could be behind the killing. He had said that the CTD first arrested Farooq and later caught three more suspects, Haseeb, Ghazali and Bakr. They, according to the SPP, disclosed the names of Mustafa, Faizan, Hasnain and Bilal. He added that an unidentified man had paid them Rs800,000 for the killing.
The FIR of the incident was registered under the Anti-Terrorism Act 1997 on the complaint of the deceased’s father, Akhlaq Abidi, at the Gizri police station.
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