Prison chief to explain why police want custody of suspect in Bilal Sheikh’s murder

Sheikh used to work as chief security officer for former president Zardari.

KARACHI: The Karachi jail superintendent has been asked to explain that in which case the law enforcement agencies have approached him for custody of the  suspect in the murder case of Bilal Sheikh, who was a security officer for former president Asif Ali Zardari.

The Sindh High Court (SHC) sought comments after it received a letter from the jail authorities seeking custody of the prisoner, Muhammad Shahid Bikik, who is facing trial for his involvement in the murder of Shaikh. Bikik's cousin, Sikandar, had gone to court pleading to restrain the prison authorities from handing over his custody to the Sindh police's Crime Investigation Department (CID) and its SSP Investigations Raja Umer Khattab.

The petitioner informed the two judges that the police had arrested Bikik in September 2013 nearly two months after the murder of Sheikh. He alleged that Bikik was already in custody of the police but the then CID chief Chaudhry Aslam had shown Bikik's arrest from Thatta, which was a false story. He said the CID had lodged different cases, including 244/2013 and others.

On Monday, the petitioner came up with a request for urgent hearing of his petition. He told the court that he has come to know that the SSP Investigations Raja Umer Khattab had addressed a letter to the central prison's superintendent asking for Bikik's custody for interrogation, in connection with some new cases lodged against him.

In his plea, the petitioner told the judges that his cousin had nothing to do with the murder of Sheikh, who was killed in a suicide bomb blast that targeted him. "Before this attack, Bikik had signed a compromise with Sheikh on September 14, 2011, ending their differences in the presence of the elders of their community," disclosed Sikandar, referring to a copy of the agreement.

According to the agreement, the two men had shunned their past differences. "Any party, who would violate the agreement would be liable to pay Rs2.5 million fine and would be outcast from the community," the agreement read. However, Sikandar claimed that the respondents are trying to implicate Bikik, who is already in custody.

He recalled that the anti-terrorism court-II had earlier allowed police investigators to interrogate the prisoner within 24 hours and then submit their investigation report with the relevant court. "During the interrogation, police officers threatened Bikik that he would be killed in an encounter or implicated in false cases," he alleged.

Saify Ali Khan, the petitioner's lawyer, informed that the prisoner chief has confirmed receiving such a letter from the police authorities but maintained that he will disclose the details to the court.

Justice Ghulam Sarwar Korai, who headed the bench, issued notices to the superintendent to file his comments by April 10.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 5^th, 2014.