Sulaiman Lashari murder case: Court orders IO to submit report by June 10

The defence complained to the judge about the delay.

KARACHI: An anti-terrorism court (ATC) on Tuesday ordered the investigating officer to submit a charge sheet against the suspects facing trial in the Sulaiman Lashari murder case before June 10.

Meanwhile, the ATC extended the judicial custody remand of Salman Abro, the key suspect and the son of a police superintendent, and four policemen till June 10. Sulaiman Lashari, an O’ Levels student, was shot dead inside his house in the Defence Housing Authority on May 8. The police claimed that Abro had come to the victim’s house along with five police constables and had opened fire.

The police added that one of the victim’s guards, Ghulam Ali, had opened retaliatory fire on the attackers, injuring Abro and a police guard, Zaheer Ahmed. Ahmed later succumbed to his injuries while Abro was admitted to a private hospital and has now made a recovery. Ali was also hurt in the exchange of fire, the police added.

An incharge judge of the ATC extended the remand of Abro and the four police constables - Imran Ali, Yasin Jamali, Rashid and Maqbool. In the absence of the investigating officer, a sub-inspector produced the suspects before the court.

During Tuesday’s hearing, the defence counsel requested the court to take action against the investigating officer as he was deliberately delaying the submission of a charge sheet. The counsel said that it was negligence on part of the officer and asked the court to take legal action against him.

The district public prosecutor, Abdul Maroof, told the court that under the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997, the charge sheet can be submitted within 30 days; therefore the investigation officer still had time to file the investigation report.

He told the court that the officer was unable to submit the charge sheet as he was busy in a Supreme Court case. Maroof also added that further investigations are underway, hence an investigation report filed right now may be incomplete as it will not include any further developments.

A case was registered against the accused under Sections 302 (premeditated murder), 324 (attempted murder), 427 (mischief causing damage to the amount of fifty rupee) and 34 (common intention) of the Pakistan Penal Code read along with Section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997, on a complaint of a brother of the deceased at the Darakhshan police station.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 4^th, 2014.