Key witness retracts statement damning Rao Anwar

Challan in Naqeebullah murder case submitted to ATC

KARACHI: A key witness in the Naqeebullah Mehsud murder case turned hostile and backtracked on his earlier statement. Submitting an affidavit on Monday, Shahzada Jahangir informed an Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) that he had no connection with the case in which he was earlier listed as an eyewitness.

He said the police had beaten him up and forced him to make a statement against former Malir SSP Rao Anwar, who is accused of killing Naqeebullah and three others.

Jahangir pleaded to the court to provide him security.

Separately, the court received an interim challan sheet against SSP Anwar and other suspects involved in the extra-judicial killing of Naqeebullah. The ATC accepted the challan in which SSP Anwar has been named as the main accused.

According to the challan, Naqeebullah and three others were killed in the same room and, as per the investigations, SSP Anwar is the main culprit behind the fake encounters. The challan also includes charges of possession of explosives and weapons.

Investigators believed that Naqeebullah and others were killed while in custody.



According to investigations, the police have also received DNA reports of the four men killed in the encounter - Naqeebullah, Sabir, Ishaq and Nazar Jan. The blood of all four was found on the carpet of the room of a building and it matched the DNA smaples of the victims.

According to the challan, the geo-fencing report confirms SSP Anwar’s presence at the scene of the crime and also proves that he and the rest of his team were in contact with each other during the ‘encounters’.

The challan confirmed that the encounters were pre-planned.

SSP Anwar has failed to present evidence proving his innocence. According to the interim challan sheet, the victims were initially declared militants but it was found that they were killed in a fake encounter.

So far, the police have taken 12 suspects including DSP Qamar Ahmed and SSP Anwar into custody. Another 10 suspects, including ASI Gada Hussain and sub-inspector Shoaib Muhammad Shoaib alias Shoaib Shooter, are still at large.

The ATC also provided copies of the case papers to the accused.

The court expressed its anger at police authorities for not being able to arrest the other suspects and reissued non-bailable warrants of arrest against the suspects who are still at large.

The court is likely to indict the 12 suspects on the next hearing, which will be held on Saturday, May 19.



In an informal media briefing outside the court, SSP Anwar said that the challan for the case against him has been presented and that if anyone has any objections then they may come to the court. His counsel Amir Mansoob said that the law permits grant of B-class jails for inmates. According to SSP Anwar, the arguments against the challan will be made by his counsel during the next hearing.



However, Naqeebullah’s family challenged the decision to shift SSP Anwar to a sub-jail. The reservations were expressed by the plaintiff's lawyer Salahuddin. Advocate Salahuddin observed that declaring Malir Cantt barracks a sub-jail via telephone seems like fraud. There should have been a written order for the sub-jail and permission should have been sought from the court before declaring it a sub-jail. Mansoob observed that before submitting the reservations, the lawyer should consult the law. The ATC directed the lawyers to argue on the next hearing.