The Islamabad police informed a trial court on Tuesday that they could not obtain any evidence against a suspect arrested in connection with the murder of former federal minister for minorities Shahbaz Bhatti.
Industrial Area Police SHO Rukhsar Mehdi told Special Judge Anti-Terrorism Court ATC-II Rana Masood Akhtar in a written statement that they did not find evidence against Abid Malik in the murder of Shahbaz Bhatti.
The ATC judge deferred the matter till February 22 and directed the SHO to make sure Sikander Bhatti, the slain minister’s brother and the complainant in the case, is present before the court.
Previously, the court had refused to agree with the findings of the police and observed that a decision could not be made without hearing the complainant.
The SHO further informed the court that Abid was interrogated after the complainant nominated him along with another man, Ziaur Rehman, in the murder of Shahbaz Bhatti.
According to the police, Abid had left for Singapore in March last year – a day before the former minister was gunned down near a market in Islamabad.
Investigators interrogated Abid for seven days, after he was arrested on February 13 from the Lahore airport upon arriving from Dubai.
They had declared him and Zia absconders of law after warrants for their arrest were obtained from the ATC on August 29, 2011.
According to the investigators, the Bhatti family had cited ‘property issues’ leading to the murder of the former minister by the two suspects.
On June 25, 2011, the trial court released another suspect, Hafiz Nazar Muhammad, in the case after the police failed to gather any evidence against him.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 22nd, 2012.
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Post my words why you scare?
Investigation system sucks in Pakistan, they are interrogating innocent people without any solid prove. How a person can murder someone when he left the country a day before murder?? System in Pakistan guarantees culprit to stay safe and make innocent people suffer for their innocence. How the authorities can interrogate a person just because he was named by a mentally unstable person?
Investigation system sucks in Pakistan, they are interrogating innocent people without any solid prove. How a person can murder someone when he left the country a day before murder?? System in Pakistan guarantees culprit to stay safe and make innocent people suffer for their innocence.