Shafiq Tanoli case: ATC remands three suspects to police custody for 14 days

Court wants to see complete investigation report by the next hearing

KARACHI: An anti-terrorism court (ATC) on Monday remanded three suspects allegedly involved in the murder of inspector Shafiq Tanoli and three others for 14 days.

ATC-I sent Abid Ali, Nadeem Khan and Noorul Rasheed to police custody on physical remand till January 20. The investigation officer (IO) of the case, DSP Ali Muhammad Khoso, told the court that they need to investigate the case further as two other suspects, Sher Bahadur and Sardar Khan, were absconding. He added that they needed to find their whereabouts.

Judge Bashir Ahmed Khoso ordered the police to submit a complete report of the investigation on the next hearing.

Separately, another ATC remanded the same suspects in other cases pertaining to possessing illicit weapons and explosives. The ATC-II sent them to jail custody till January 20 as they were produced for the second time before the court.

The suspects were arrested by the Crime Investigation Department (CID) of the Sindh Police in a raid in Labour Square area of SITE on December 21, 2014. According to the CID in-charge Mazhar Mashwani, three hand grenades, one Kalashnikov and two pistols were seized from the suspects.

At least seven cases were registered against the suspects under Sections 302 (murder), 324 (attempted murder), 427 (mischief causing damage), 109 (abetting a crime) and 34 (common intention) of the Pakistan Penal Code, Section 23(1)-A of the Sindh Arms Act, Section 4 and 5 of the Explosives Substances Act read with Section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act.

Tanoli's death

Inspector Shafiq Tanoli was killed in an early morning suicide attack near his residence at Old Sabzi Mandi in April last year. Three others identified as Jalal Qureshi, Muhammad Dawood and Ejaz Ahmed were also killed in the blast while 15 others were injured. Tanoli had been involved in several high-profile cases including journalist Wali Babar Khan's murder case and arresting Lyari gangster Arshad Pappu.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 6^th, 2014.