Court grants extension to police for submitting reply in Karachi ‘encounter’ case

KARACHI:

A local court on Wednesday granted extension to police personnel for submitting their reply on a plea seeking the registration of a case against cops in connection with alleged extrajudicial killings of five men in Gizri.

The plea, filed by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf leader Laila Parveen, accuses the police of killing the petitioner’s driver, Abbas, during a staged encounter in a bungalow in Gizri and falsely claiming that a 30mm pistol was found from the deceased’s possession.

According to the plea, the “fake encounter” was staged in a vacant bungalow, whose walls and doors don’t have any bullet marks. Moreover, the plea alleges that the police cleaned the crime scene following the killings to remove the evidence.

“They [the police] didn’t even allow an impartial autopsy of my driver’s body,” the petitioner complained to the court during the hearing, further claiming that the body, taken away by the police, was still in a morgue.

Furthermore, she remarked: “None of the policemen involved in the so-called encounter sustained any injuries.”

She moved the court to order the registration of a case, under sections pertaining to terrorism and murder, against policemen involved in the killings.

The police, however, sought more time from the court to submit their reply on the plea.

Granting them an extension, the court adjourned the hearing till December 29.

Explanation sought

Separately, the court summoned Paposh Nagar SHO, seeking an explanation over his failure to register a fraud case despite court orders.

At the hearing, the petitioner’s lawyer Liaquat Ali Gabol maintained that the court had directed the SHO to record the petitioner’s statement in the case. Even then, the SHO hasn’t recorded his client Abdul Jabbar Khan’s statement, Gabol said.

The petitioner told the court that his business partners had cheated him, swindling Rs4.1 million from him.

“A cheque they gave me to [re]pay the amount also bounced,” he added.

Gabol further claimed that when they approached the police with a complaint, cops refused to take any action.

“The court had directed the police to take action against the suspects, but they haven’t taken any so far,” he said.

At this, the court summoned the Paposh Nagar SHO on December 18, seeking an explanation from him on the matter.

Murder ‘over freewill marriage’

Meanwhile, the Malir court recorded the statement of deceased Furqan’s wife Umme Habiba who maintained that her father and two brothers had killed her husband.

Habiba told the court that she and Furqan had a freewill marriage two years ago, following which they received death threats from her family.

“My family colluded with the police to register fake cases against us in a bid to pressurise us into coming out of the hiding,” she narrated. “However, my father, along with two of my brothers, killed Furqan when cases booked against us were proven false,” she claimed.

Habiba told the court that her father and brothers were out on bail and her life was in danger.