Osama murder case; JIT seizes cops’ weapons
PHOTO: EXPRESS
The Joint Investigation Committee (JIT) probing Osama Nadeem Satti’s murder has recovered four weapons from the Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) personnel who shot dead the 22-year old youth.
The suspects nominated in the FIR filed by the deceased’s father, were presented before the JIT for recording their testimonies, officials of the Islamabad police told The Express Tribune on Tuesday.
JIT has seized the pistol from the ASI and three sub-machine guns from the four arrested constables.
The five policemen arrested for the death of Osama Satti in a shady encounter will be presented before a magistrate on Wednesday (today) for acquiring their physical remand, officials said.
In his testimony before the JIT, ASI Hafiz Iftikhar Ahmed, who was heading the CTD squad that chased, surrounded and sprayed Satti’s car with bullets, and the other four constables refuted the charges that it was a premeditated murder.
The victim’s father has stated in the report filed at the Ramna police station that his son Osama had a quarrel with officials of the capital police a day earlier who had threatened him with dire consequences. On Jan 2, at around 2am, Osama had gone to drop his friend in Sector H-11. When he was returning, the police officials intercepted his vehicle in Sector G-10 and fired at him from all sides.
The CTD cops killed Osama with proper planning which was a terrorist act, the FIR further stated.
However, all the personnel refuted charges of engaging in a fight with the victim any time before the incident.
Sources disclosed that ASI Ahmed told the JIT that their mobile was stationed near NUST University in Sector H-13. The suspect said they received information on the wireless about a robbery and that the robbers had sped away in a white car.
Ahmed maintained that upon witnessing a white car, they signalled it to stop but the driver drove off. Suspecting that robbers were inside it, the police personnel fired gunshots at the tires but missed the target and bullets accidentally struck Osama.
Until now, no departmental action has been taken against any official regarding which The Express Tribune learnt that the future of the personnel would be decided after completion of the investigation by JIT.
The five suspects would be presented before the court on Wednesday (today) to obtain physical remand.
While addressing a presser in Islamabad on Tuesday, the father of the 22-year-old victim, Nadeem Younus, said that his son was killed in a premeditated murder.
He questioned how come the car’s front windshield had bullet holes if the police were chasing it.
He appealed to the chief justice to take notice of the incident and complete the inquiry at the earliest.
Younus said that it was a test case for the Islamabad administration as he asserted the act was committed deliberately.
He recalled that Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid had promised him that the judges of Islamabad High Court (IHC) would probe into the killing of his son.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 6th, 2021.