Baldia factory case: ‘New charge sheet in another week’

Police request for more time to submit the charge sheet that they pledged last Saturday

KARACHI: The Baldia factory fire case hearing was adjourned again on Saturday as police sought more time to furnish the supplementary charge sheet, in light of the recent joint investigation team’s report.

At the outset of the hearing, the police requested the District West additional sessions judge for more time to submit the charge sheet that they pledged last Saturday. On August 13, the investigators had told the court that necessary work to include an Anti-Terrorism Act clause in the case and formally implicate 10 more suspects was nearly complete. They said the new charge sheet, made in light of the recent joint investigation team’s report, will be submitted in a week.

The judge, expressing displeasure over the investigators’ performance, gave seven more days, seeking the charge sheet on August 27. Meanwhile, the judge also extended the interim bail of one of the proposed accused, Ali Hassan Qadri, a Hyderabad-based businessman, till the next hearing.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 21^st, 2016.