Temporary release: ATC grants bail to two suspects in Hamza murder case

Suspect failed to appear before the court for three consecutive hearings.

KARACHI: An Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) granted bail to two suspects on Friday against surety of Rs100,000 each in the Hamza Ahmed murder case.

The ATC-III awarded bails to two drivers, Muhammad Idrees and Mushtaq, of the suspected teenager’s family and also issued notice to the defence counsel, directing him to present arguments on the bail earlier granted to Shoaib Naveed by a sessions court.

Hamza Ahmed, a 17-year-old student, was gunned down allegedly by the security guard of another teenager, Shoaib Naveed, after they got into a heated argument outside a restaurant in Defence Housing Authority on April 27. According to the prosecution, Naveed met Ahmed outside the restaurant to settle a dispute over the latter’s girlfriend but their discussion turned tense. Naveed’s security guard, Amal Rehman, allegedly shot dead Ahmed and has been missing since the incident.

The special public prosecutor, Abdul Maroof, said that the court issued notice to the defence counsel because Naveed remained absent for the last three hearings. According to the suspect’s counsel, Syed Junaid Alam, Naveed couldn’t appear before the court on Friday as flights from Lahore to Karachi were cancelled due to foggy weather. With regard to the first two hearings, Alam said that he had informed the court about Naveed’s absence because of his A’ Levels exams.

While commenting on the absence, Maroof asked the court to cancel Naveed’s bail and order him to appear before the court. The court adjourned the hearing till January 2, 2014 and directed the defence counsel to make sure that the suspect appears before the court at the next hearing.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 21^st, 2013.