Ranjhani murder suspects sent on physical remand

Petitioner requests court to summon progress report from police

KARACHI: The administrative judge of anti-terrorism courts sent on Monday suspects, UC Nazim Rahim Shah Rahim Shah and sub-inspector Riaz Amir, accused in Irshad Ranjhani's murder case on a three-day physical remand.

The suspects were produced before the administrative judge at the Sindh High Court.

Shah stated before the court that he was innocent and that he had fired from inside his car in self-defence during a robbery bid. He said, "The robbers followed me while I carried Rs1 million withdrawn from a bank".

The court asked if they had challenged the order of the judicial magistrate on presenting the suspects before the ATC. The counsel for the suspect maintained that he had not challenged it as yet. The court accepted the police's request for the three-day remand of Shah and Amir and ordered the investigation officer (IO) to also present the progress report at the next hearing.



SHC plea

Meanwhile, a two-member bench of the Sindh High Court, headed by Justice Aftab Ahmed Gorar, sought an updated report from IO Mehboob Bilal in the Ranjhani murder case at the next hearing on February 22.

Hearing the plea filed by Irshad's brother, Munawar Ranjhani, against the police for not producing Shah before the ATC, the court remarked that the judicial magistrate had granted the plea to include sections of the Anti-Terrorism Act in the case and that Shah was being produced before the administrative court.



The petitioner said that they had reservations that Shah would be given relief and requested that a progress report be sought from the police. The petitioner added that while the case was registered under the Anti-Terrorism Act against Shah, the IO did not arrest him in an anti-terrorism case. He pleaded that Shah be produced before the ATC.

With additional reporting from PPI 

Published in The Express Tribune, February 19^th, 2019.