Murder at the cinema: Court reserves verdict on bail pleas of two suspects

The premeditated murder charges against the suspects were earlier dropped.

KARACHI: A district and sessions court reserved verdict on the bail applications of two suspects on Tuesday in the murder case of a security guard of the Nueplex cinema.

Muhammad Favian Khawaja, stepson of Balochistan’s former governor Zulfiqar Ali Magsi, his friend, Aurangzaib, and a security guard, Afsar Khan, have been booked and arrested for the murder of 35-year-old security guard, Asif, who was shot dead while on duty at the cinema in DHA Phase VIII.



Sohail Jabbar Malik, an additional district and sessions judge in district South, reserved the verdict after the counsels for the suspects, Favian and Aurangzaib, and the state counsel concluded their arguments on the bail applications.

In the arguments, the counsels said that the complainant was not an eyewitness of the case and he registered the FIR after hearing about the incident from others, adding that his statement to the police under section 161 of the Criminal Proceedure Code was also different from the content of the FIR.

The counsels further said that the investigation and the statements of witnesses as well as suspects recorded have revealed that premeditated murder charges against the suspects were not proven, adding that the police have dropped premeditated murder charges against all nominated suspects.

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 fifty rupees) and 34 (common intention) of the Pakistan Penal Code against the suspects in the interim charge sheet.



While requesting the court to grant bail to the suspects, the counsels said that 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, said the counsels, adding that the gun of security guard Afsar Khan accidently went off and a bullet hit another guard, who died later.

The state counsel neither favoured nor opposed the bail pleas. He, however, accepted that it was an accidental murder.

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.

The court reserved the verdict and adjourned the case till January 23.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 22^nd, 2014.