Shahzeb Khan case: Shahrukh Jatoi finally appears in court

Prime suspect remanded in police custody; father Sikander Jatoi released for ‘lack of evidence’.

KARACHI:

Prime suspect in the Shahzeb Khan murder case, Shahrukh Jatoi, has been remanded in police custody till January 23 by an anti-terrorism court (ATC).

Shahrukh was finally produced before the court three weeks after the murder, and after his short-lived escape to the UAE.

Shahrukh, his friends Siraj Talpur and Sajjad Talpur and their cook Ghulam Murtaza had allegedly killed Shahzeb on December 25, 2012, over a petty dispute.

Inspector Muhammad Mobin, an investigator in the case, had requested physical custody of Shahrukh till January 27.

Mobin told the court that Shahrukh needed to be interrogated in connection with the arrest of two absconding co-accused, Asif Lund and Salman Jatoi. Two pistols and a vehicle used in the crime are yet to be recovered.

ATC-III Judge Ghulam Mustafa Memon, however, remanded him to police custody for seven days and directed the investigation officer to submit a final report by the next date of hearing.

Legality of arrest process

Naeem Qureshi and Amir Mansoob Khan, the defence lawyers, moved an application questioning the process adopted by police authorities for arresting Shahrukh in Dubai, where he was hiding. The arrest process is illegal, as legal formalities have not been followed, they alleged.



Issuing a notice to the special public prosecutor, the judge directed him to submit relevant documents showing whether or not legal formalities were adopted in the arrest process.

The judge also directed the police to produce Shahrukh before the police surgeon at the civil hospital, who will conduct an ‘ossification’ test to determine his age.

Defence lawyers argued that the suspect is a minor, and should be tried separately from the adult co-accused with concessions prescribed for juvenile offenders.

Shahrukh’s age, however, was not mentioned by the lawyers in their application.

Evidence

The suspect’s lawyers also pleaded to the court to order that the nine ‘empties’ allegedly recovered by the investigation officer from the crime scene be transferred to the custody of any other officer. “The investigation officer might tamper with the empties presently sent to the forensic science laboratory for matching,” they argued.



Special public prosecutor Abdul Maroof objected to the application, saying that the anti-terrorism court could not pass such an order, because it was tantamount to interfering with the investigation.

Sikandar Jatoi released

Meanwhile, the investigation officer told the court that due to the absence of solid evidence against Shahrukh’s father, Sikandar Jatoi, he has been released after investigation.

The judge directed the investigation officer to submit a proper report explaining on what grounds the accused was released.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 18^th, 2013.