Karachi Broast: Restaurant owner’s murder case to be heard on September 11

Two men and women charged with the murder of Sheikh Mohammad Mansoor.

KARACHI: The grisly murder of the owner of the popular Karachi Broast restaurant was scheduled to be examined at the Anti-Terrorism Court-III on Wednesday, but was adjourned to September 11 when a defence lawyer could not make it to the hearing.

The case is being heard inside Central Jail.

Two men and women have been charged with the murder of Sheikh Mohammad Mansoor, who was found dead in 2008. Mansoor’s restaurant Karachi Broast is one of the most popular joints at Boat Basin.

According to the charge sheet, two women called Shazia Raza and Nazia Rasheed kidnapped Mansoor from an apartment building in Clifton on July 3, 2008. However, news accounts published at the time state that the accused women managed to kidnap Mansoor by pretending that their car had broken down.

The charge sheet states that Mansoor was then “captivated” (sic) in an apartment in Liaquatabad. He was killed and his body was cut up into pieces with a “toka”. The pieces of the corpse were put into gunny bags and left in Rizvia Society.

The women were allegedly aided in the murder and kidnapping by two men – Shazia’s husband Mohsin Raza and Syed Adnan Haider. The four have pleaded not guilty to the charges.

The First Information Report was filed by the Clifton police under sections of the Pakistan Penal Code that cover abduction, murder and common intent.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 30^th, 2012.