Intezar murder case: ATC issues show-cause notice to witness

In an other case, accused admit to killing victim during interrogation 'out of fear'

KARACHI: An anti-terrorism court (ATC) issued on Monday a show-cause notice to a witness over his absence from the hearing of Intezar murder case.

While Intezar's father appeared before the court, the hearing had to be adjourned due to the absence of police official Shamsher, a witness in the case whose statement had to be cross-examined.

The court issued a show-cause notice to Shamsher, ordering him to ensure attendance at the next hearing on January 8.

Petitioner summoned

In another case, an ATC summoned the petitioner of a case pertaining to the possession of weapons and ammunition.

Accused Noman alias Maru and Farooq alias Babu were presented before the court as it recorded the statement of one of the witnesses, Sajjad.

Later, court issued directives for the petitioner to appear at the next hearing of the case.

The accused in the case are also booked in the murder case of an army officer, Major Saqib Iqbal. So far, Aram Bagh police have submitted an interim challan of the accused in the murder case to the court. The challan states that no evidence of the accused's involvement in the murder case was found during investigation and the weapons seized from their possession did not match the bullet shells collected from the crime scene. Following this, the court had directed the police to submit a final challan of the accused. Meanwhile, a report by a joint investigation team on the case is yet to be released.

According to the accused, they admitted to killing Major Iqbal during interrogation "out of fear."

The accused were arrested by SITE Super Highway Police, who seized illegal weapons from their possession. However, the confiscated weapons were not used in Major Iqbal's murder, it was found later.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 7^th, 2020.