Aftab Qureshi murder: All suspects come clean as tribunal winds up inquiry
Suspects claim the police are framing them.
HYDERABAD:
All suspects arrested for the kidnapping and murder of neurosurgeon Dr Aftab Qureshi have denied their involvement before a tribunal on Monday.
The seven suspects testified before the additional judge, Aijaz Khakheli, who wrapped up the judicial inquiry. The report will now be submitted to the Sindh High Court.
Dr Qureshi was shot dead in Hyderabad on May 30 in a botched raid conducted by Karachi’s Citizens-Police Liaison Committee and Anti-Violent Crime Cell to rescue the professor, 18 days after he was kidnapped from Karachi. ASI Rashid Khan and an alleged kidnapper, Akhtar Siyal, were also shot dead in the rescue operation.
Ashok Kumar, who the police initially claimed was found inside the house where Dr Qureshi was being kept, told the judge that the police have framed him. “At first, it was shown that I was recovered in the raid, but later police also named me as a suspect in the kidnapping and murder case,” he said.
Kumar claimed that the people who had kidnapped the professor had kidnapped him as well and were keeping both of them at the same house but in separate rooms.
Apart from Kumar, Farooq Ahmed Leghari, Azhar Ali Solangi, Imdad Ali Solangi, Haut Khan Banglani, Abdul Aziz Barejo and Muhammad Irfan Jat also denied their involvement. “We are innocent. Police have implicated us on false charges,” said one suspect.
Their statements were, however, in conflict with what the police investigators had been claiming about their confessions.
On September 6, Crime Branch DIG Farhat Junejo told the same inquiry commission that all the seven suspects had confessed. “Ashok [Kumar] confessed that he had colluded with Daud Gishkori, Akhtar Siyal, Bhai Jan, Zain Jathyal, Abdul Aziz Barejo, Hot Khan Banglani and Muhammad Irfan Jat in the kidnapping.”
While the tribunal has yet to come up with its findings, the deposition by an official of the Forensic Science Laboratory in Hyderabad, states that Dr Qureshi was killed by a bullet fired from the gun of a police officer.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 14th, 2012.
All suspects arrested for the kidnapping and murder of neurosurgeon Dr Aftab Qureshi have denied their involvement before a tribunal on Monday.
The seven suspects testified before the additional judge, Aijaz Khakheli, who wrapped up the judicial inquiry. The report will now be submitted to the Sindh High Court.
Dr Qureshi was shot dead in Hyderabad on May 30 in a botched raid conducted by Karachi’s Citizens-Police Liaison Committee and Anti-Violent Crime Cell to rescue the professor, 18 days after he was kidnapped from Karachi. ASI Rashid Khan and an alleged kidnapper, Akhtar Siyal, were also shot dead in the rescue operation.
Ashok Kumar, who the police initially claimed was found inside the house where Dr Qureshi was being kept, told the judge that the police have framed him. “At first, it was shown that I was recovered in the raid, but later police also named me as a suspect in the kidnapping and murder case,” he said.
Kumar claimed that the people who had kidnapped the professor had kidnapped him as well and were keeping both of them at the same house but in separate rooms.
Apart from Kumar, Farooq Ahmed Leghari, Azhar Ali Solangi, Imdad Ali Solangi, Haut Khan Banglani, Abdul Aziz Barejo and Muhammad Irfan Jat also denied their involvement. “We are innocent. Police have implicated us on false charges,” said one suspect.
Their statements were, however, in conflict with what the police investigators had been claiming about their confessions.
On September 6, Crime Branch DIG Farhat Junejo told the same inquiry commission that all the seven suspects had confessed. “Ashok [Kumar] confessed that he had colluded with Daud Gishkori, Akhtar Siyal, Bhai Jan, Zain Jathyal, Abdul Aziz Barejo, Hot Khan Banglani and Muhammad Irfan Jat in the kidnapping.”
While the tribunal has yet to come up with its findings, the deposition by an official of the Forensic Science Laboratory in Hyderabad, states that Dr Qureshi was killed by a bullet fired from the gun of a police officer.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 14th, 2012.