IO gets time to file charge sheet against six friends

A court on Saturday gave the investigating officer four more days to file a final charge sheet against six suspects booked for alleged manslaughter following the death of their friend, who died after falling from a high-rise in DHA last month.

Syed Muhammad Ammar, Usman Ahmed, Owais, Uzair Ahmed, Ahmed Jamil and Syed Faaz were booked and arrested after the death of their 26-year-old friend, Adil Masood Khan, on July 31.

When the case came up before Judicial Magistrate (South) Mazhar Ali, the investigating officer turned up before him and requested time to be able to file the final charge sheet. Accepting his request, the magistrate directed the IO to submit the final report on the next date of hearing slated for August 31.

In the interim charge sheet, the investigating officer (IO) has charged the suspects with manslaughter punishable under Section 322 of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC).

During the course of the investigation, IO Abdul Raheem stated that he found no evidence to suggest that the man was pushed off the residential building or there was any resentment between him and the suspects. The IO, suspecting murder, had earlier inserted Section 302 (punishment for murder) of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) in the case.

The charge sheet said the hashish and fag ends of cigarettes recovered from the flat and blood samples of the suspects had been sent to the University of Karachi’s International Centre for Chemical and Biological Sciences (ICCBS) for a chemical examination, a report of which is being awaited. It listed 14 witnesses, including the complainant. The owner of the flat where the alleged drug party took place has been named an absconder.

On Saturday, the matter came up for hearing before Magistrate Ali, who adjourned the hearing until August 25 with a direction to the IO to complete the investigation and submit the final charge sheet by the next date of the hearing.

Masood, a resident of Gulistan-e-Jauhar, died after falling off the 17th floor of a high-rise building near Do Darya under mysterious circumstances on the morning of July 31.

An FIR was registered on the complaint of the victim’s sister at the Darakhshan police station under sections 322 and 34 (common intention) of the PPC.

According to the complainant, she resides in Lahore and received a call from her brother’s friend, Hammad, who informed her about the alleged accident. She travelled to Karachi after she was informed about the death of her brother.

She said her brother’s friends abandoned him and fled after he fell from a flat in DHA. The body had been lying in an open area for hours before the administration of the building took it to a hospital. She said she had a sneaking suspicion that his brother was pushed off the building by one of his friends.

Earlier, the IO had informed the court that the youth had rented the apartment, where they were having a party when Khan went to the balcony from where he fell. His friends fled the scene as they neither shifted him to a hospital nor informed anyone about the incident. The building administration later took the deceased to a hospital.

During the initial interrogation, the police officer said, the suspects confessed that they were using drugs at the flat.