Journalist’s murder: Five men remanded into SIU custody

They were arrested in a different case but confessed they had killed Wali Khan Babar.

KARACHI:

Five men accused of being involved in the murder of journalist Wali Khan Babar have been remanded to the custody of the Special Investigation Unit (SIU) till April 18.

The men were brought to the Sindh High Court on Friday in an armoured-personnel carrier. The case was heard by Justice Maqbool Baqar in his capacity as the administrative judge for the Anti-Terrorism Courts.

Investigation Officer Inspector Noor Sabir of the SIU said that the men were arrested in another case by the Gulshan-e-Iqbal police but they had confessed to Babar’s murder during a routine interrogation.

Babar was killed within the jurisdiction of the Super Market police station on January 13, 2011. The IO justified the demand for remand by explaining that the arrested men needed to be interrogated to find out where the rest of the suspects were. Sabir said there are around 12 suspects, seven of who have been identified and nominated in FIRs.

The police needs to find the murder weapons and the accused men may be able to help, added the inspector.

The detained men are Muhammad Shahrukh Khan, Faisal Muhammad, Muhammad Shakeel, Syed Tahir Naveed Shah and Syed Muhammad Ali Rizvi. The absconding men wanted in the case include Faisal ‘Mota’, Asad, Nasir, Kamran and Saeed ‘Commando’. The police have claimed to have found a Suzuki Cultus, registration number ADZ- 301, which was used by the alleged killers. It was this car that helped the police find the main culprit in the case, Liaquat, who is allegedly a city government employee.

AJ Baqar asked the arrested men if the police were mistreating them and when they made no complaints, he allowed the request.

Later, Special Public Prosecutor Arshad Cheema told the media that the accused have not been interrogated about Babar’s murder since they had been arrested for some other crime. “If any evidence is found, they will be duly charged,” he added.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 9^th,  2011.