KARACHI: A judicial magistrate sent on Saturday the murder case of Haleema to a sessions court for trial after approving the interim charge sheet submitted by the police on a previous hearing as the final investigation report.
The decision came after the investigating officer, inspector Hameedullah, failed to submit the final charge sheet in due time and sought more time.
Haleema was found dead in her flat in Delhi Colony on May 31, five days after her four-year-old son, Abdullah, was handed over to Edhi Foundation by a man, Rizwan Ayaz Khan, who claimed that the child was found abandoned at Do Darya. Later, it was found that Rizwan was in a ‘relationship’ with the deceased woman and the suspicion about his role in the killing grew stronger when he disappeared. However, he was caught by the police in an intelligence-based raid in the outskirts of the city off the Super Highway. During this time, his wife, Sonia, was also in police custody for questioning.
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In the interim charge sheet, the investigation officer (IO) framed Rizwan as the suspected murderer while requesting the court to release Sonia on the ground that no clue linked her to the murder.
During Saturday’s hearing, Liaquat Ali Khan, the counsel representing Sonia, pleaded that the court acquit his client. He submitted that even the police had stated that she was not involved in the incident.
The judge, however, ruled that the matter will be decided by the sessions court conducting the trial of the case. Expressing displeasure over the IO, the judge also forwarded the interim charge sheet as the final investigation report. The IO had failed to submit the final charge sheet and asked for more time.
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Meanwhile, Sonia’s lawyer also moved a bail application in the District South’s sessions court on behalf of his client. The application and the case are scheduled to be heard on June 29.
Published in The Express Tribune, June 26th, 2016.
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