Absence In Court: Warrants issued for Baldia fire IO

KARACHI: The trial court hearing the Baldia factory fire case issued on Saturday non-bailable warrants for the investigation officer (IO) of the case as he failed to provide remaining statements of the dramatically increased 950 witnesses and failed appear before the court. The additional district and sessions judge, West, Naushaba Kazi, issued the warrants for sub-inspector Jahanzeb and directed the authorities to stop his salary until further orders. At the previous hearing, the IO was ordered by the court to submit statements of the remaining 100 witnesses so that the copies of the case could be supplied to the accused. Factory owners, Abdul Aziz Bhalia, Shahid Bhalia and Arshad Bhalia informed the court through their counsel that they could not come to the hearing on medical grounds. The court ordered them to appear at the next hearing on March 7.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 22^nd, 2015.