Take them away: Anti-terrorism court remands two to custody

Adil Hussain and Yasin Baloch appeared were charged with raping two family members and later killing four of them.

KARACHI:

An anti-terrorism court on Tuesday remanded to police custody to two of the suspected Lyari gangsters allegedly involved in the killings of four family members in Mauripur.

The ATC-III remanded the suspects, Adil, son of Muzaffar Hussain and Yasin Baloch, son of Manzoor Baloch, to police custody after they appeared before the court on charges of raping two of the family members and later killing four of them.

A couple - identified as 45-year-old Muzaffar Baig and his 40-year-old wife - was shot dead on Sunday along with their two sons, 22-year-old Imran and 10-year-old Abdul Samad. The couple’s 19-year-old daughter was allegedly shot and injured by the gang members.

According to the police, gangsters Abdul Rasheed, Maher Bux, Nazir Baloch, Adil and Yasin barged into Baig’s house along with four other men and raped the women at gunpoint. The suspects then took the hostages to a location near the Gabo Pat union council office in Mauripur and shot them, killing four and injuring one.

Police arrested two of the suspects in an encounter in Mauripur on Monday. According to the police, the men were affiliated to a Lyari gang and were wanted for murder, attempted murder, extortion, kidnapping for ransom and robbery. The family was targeted because of Baig’s political affiliation and ethnic background, police added.

A case, No.459/13, has been registered at the Mauripur police station under sections 302 (premeditated murder), 324 (attempted murder), 376 (rape), 365 (kidnapping or abducting with intent to secretly and wrongfully confine a person) and 34 (common intention) of the Pakistan Penal Code along with section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997.

Later, the court adjourned the case till January 13.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 1^st, 2014.