Murder case: Taji Khokhar summoned by court

Victim’s family has accused the police of destroying evidence against the suspected killer.

ISLAMABAD:

A trial court has summoned Imtiaz Ahmed alias Taji Khokhar along with three other suspects, involved in the murder of a young man over a land dispute, next week.

Additional District and Sessions Judge (East) Muhammad Azam Khan stated that, “Prima facie it seems a case exists against the suspected murderer”. Imtiaz and his accomplices are accused of murdering Khalid Farooq over a land dispute and have been summoned on Monday.

On February 12, Koral police had registered a First Information Report (FIR) under Section 302 against Imtiaz, Imran Shahzad, Sajid Hussain and Muhammad Tanveer for killing Farooq, a resident of Dhoke Gangal, in the capital’s outskirts. The police had arrested three suspected murderers, but they could not arrest Imtiaz, who belongs to a politically influential family. The court summoned all the respondents after the complainant in a written statement accused Investigation Officer (IO) Arshad Ali of trying save Imtiaz, on whose orders Farooq was killed.

The complainant Aneesul Arifeen had maintained that Khokhar was an influential land grabber due to which the police were trying to destroy evidence against him. He informed the court that the charge-sheet the IO had submitted before the court did not include Imtiaz’s name and he had not been arrested.



According to the FIR, Imtiaz had tried to confiscate  Farooq’s land and when he resisted the attempt, he and his accomplices killed him. Farooq had been living with his family in Dhoke Gangal since 1980. Imtiaz is former premier’s adviser on human rights Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar’s uncle and former deputy speaker Nawaz Khokhar’s brother. Imtiaz is also accused of involvement in Sabira Bibi’s murder who had challenged his claim over her land in court. The murder case is pending before the SC.

He had escaped to Dubai after his name was placed on the exit control list. Imtiaz returned after getting pre-arrest bail from the Sindh High Court in the first week of June.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 16^th, 2013.