ATC extends judicial custody remand of three suspects till Sept 8th. PHOTO: AFP
While carrying out investigations into the case for more than eight months and despite assuring an anti-terrorism court (ATC) time and again, the FIA has yet to appoint a prosecutor in the case.
Meanwhile, the ATC extended on Tuesday judicial custody remand of the three suspects in the Imran Farooq murder case till September 8th.
The ATC-I Judge, Syed Kausar Abbas Zaidi, granted extension in remand of the suspect, Moazzam Ali Khan, Khalid Shamim and Syed Mohsin Ali.
The counsel for suspects, Mansoor Afridi, preferred to seek an adjournment than presenting his arguments in the absence of the FIA prosecutor.
The court accepted his request and adjourned the case till September 8th.
While talking to the media, Afridi alleged that the prosecution did not have any evidence to prove its case and that was why it was delaying the matter by not appointing a prosecutor.
Two suspects, Shamim and Mohsin Ali, have already recorded their confessions before the magistrate alleging that the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) leader was killed as he was a “potent threat to the leadership of MQM.”
Moazzam has not yet recorded confessional statement in the case.
On December 5, the FIA had registered a case against MQM chief Altaf Hussain and other party leaders for their alleged involvement in the 2010 murder of Dr Imran Farooq.
Farooq was stabbed and bludgeoned to death near his apartment in Green Lane, Edgware, in September 2010.
The counter-terrorism wing of the FIA had registered the case under the relevant clauses of the Anti-Terrorism Act.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 31st, 2016.
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