Alleged extrajudicial killing: Police submit charge sheet against Ranger’s official in court

Accused to be presented in the Anti-Terrorism Court today.

KARACHI:

The police submitted a charge sheet in the Anti-Terrorism Court on Friday against a Rangers official, nominating him as the prime suspect in the extrajudicial killing of a man.

The Rangers official, Shahzad, was accused of killing Ghulam Haider for allegedly not stopping his car when signaled to do so on June 6 in Shah Faisal Colony. The Rangers authorities had handed over Shahzad’s custody to the police as the incident had angered the victim’s relatives and residents, who protested against the alleged high-handedness of the paramilitary force. Later, three other officials were also included in the investigations.

In the charge sheet, the investigating officer said that the forensic science lab’s report revealed that the bullet fired from Shahzad’s rifle matched the first half of the bullet sent to the lab for examination.

He also told the court that the complainant of the case, Abdul Salam, had also named and identified Shahzad as the main suspect in the case during the course of investigation. The officer said that the names of the three other officials have been shown in column two of the charge sheet as no concrete evidence was found against them,

The officer has included 17 witnesses, including the complainant and medico-legal officer, in the case.

The judge of Anti-Terrorism Court I, Bashir Ahmed Khoso, while accepting the charge sheet, issued production orders for the Ranger’s official for Saturday (today).

The protest prompted the Rangers director-general to suspend one of the personnel who had allegedly opened fire and ordered an inquiry into the incident.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 17^th, 2013.