A day after bike-riding assailants shot and killed Chaudhry Muhammad Adnan – a former member of the Punjab assembly and independent candidate – in a targeted attack, the Rawalpindi police registered a case under the provision of premeditated murder.
The case registered at the Civil Lines police station, nominated five suspects for their alleged involvement in targeting the former Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) lawmaker over political grudges and business disputes.
According to police sources, FIR 253 of 2024 was registered on the complaint of the deceased candidate’s brother-in-law, Chaudhry Naeem Iqbal.
In the FIR, the complainant adopted the stance that Adnan served as PTI’s former parliamentary secretary in Punjab. “On February 12, he was driving his car while Fazal Rabi and Chaudhry Zaheer Khan were sitting in the back seat of the car. Another car of workers was accompanying him in which Zahid Hafeez and Ehtisham Sakhawat were seated,” the complainant told the police.
“He was on his way back after settling business matters in the office of a private housing society. The car stopped at the traffic signal at Jinnah Park at 6.15pm. In the meantime, two medium-height, brown-skinned unidentified suspects donning shalwar kameez approached the driver’s seat and started firing with a pistol.
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Adnan was shot in the face, neck, and other parts of his body. The accused fled the scene of the incident by a motorbike that was parked across the road. Adnan was being shifted to the Benazir Bhutto General Hospital in a serious condition when he succumbed to his injuries,” read the contents of the FIR.
Police said the complainant nominated five suspects in the FIR, alleging political grudges and business disputes.
Earlier, the body of the deceased was handed over to the heirs after completing medico-legal formalities at the District Headquarters Hospital.
Funeral held
The funeral prayers of the deceased were offered on the main highway in front of Jhanda Chichi Jan Haveli on Tuesday evening at 5 o’clock.
Several political and social figures including Mukhtar Abbas, a former PPP candidate for NA-57, Sheikh Rashid Shafique, a former MNA, Zamarud Khan, Shakeel Awan, Syed Arif Shirazi, Zaheer Ahmed Awan, a large number of attorneys, members of the civic society, and media representatives attended the funeral prayers. During the funeral prayer, the police put strict security measures in place.
Later, the deceased was laid to rest in a local graveyard of the garrison city.
Talking to The Express Tribune, a police officer said the CIA staff along with the Homicide Unit were both investigating the target killing incident.
The footage of the CCTV cameras installed at the airport was being obtained, he said. The witnesses’ statements have been recorded and the accused will soon be arrested, he claimed.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 14th 2024.
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