Guard killed at Nueplex: Police drop premeditated murder charges against all nominated suspects

Judge directs investigation officer to submit final charge-sheet before the court on January 21.

KARACHI: Investigators dropped the premeditated murder charges on Wednesday against all nominated suspects in the murder case of a security guard of the Nueplex cinema in the interim charge-sheet submitted before a district and sessions court.

Favian Magsi, his friend Aurangzaib, and a security guard Afsar Khan, have been booked and arrested for the murder of a 35-year-old security guard, Asif, outside the cinema. Asif was shot dead while on duty at the cinema in DHA Phase VIII.



The investigation and the statements of witnesses and suspects recorded have revealed that the premeditated murder charges against the suspects have not been proven, read the charge-sheet.

While declaring it unintentional murder, the police added sections 319 (Punishment for qatl-i-khata), 322 (qatl-bis-sabab), 427 (mischief causing damage to the amount of Rs50) and 34 (common intention) of the Pakistan Penal Code against the suspects.

The police also revealed that the real name of Favian Magsi, stepson of Balochistan’s former governor Zulfiqar Ali Magsi, is Muhammad Favian Khawaja son of Faisal Khawaja.

According to the investigation officer, Muhammad Mobin, section 319 was inserted against the security guard while section 322 against the two others. The police have included 32 prosecution witnesses in the case.

The police submitted the interim charge-sheet before the judge Shabbir Ahmed Channa, a judicial magistrate in district south. The judge while accepting the charge-sheet directed the investigation officer to submit the final charge-sheet before the court on January 21.

Earlier, the eyewitnesses had declared the murder as an accident while recording their statement before the court. They did not directly implicate Favian, his friend and the security guard in the killing, saying that the gun of security guard, Afsar Khan, accidently went off and a bullet hit another guard, who died later.

The witnesses had recorded statements under Section 164 of the criminal procedure code in the presence of the suspects in the court.

A case, No 686/13, was registered under Sections 302 (premeditated murder), 427 (mischief causing damage to the amount of fifty rupees) and 34 (common intention) of the Pakistan Penal Code on a complaint of the deceased’s brother at the Darakhshan police station.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 16^th, 2014.