Convict's plea: SHC CJ seeks details of Shahid Hamid’s murder

KARACHI:

Sindh High Court (SHC) Chief Justice Faisal Arab has sought details of the case relating to 1997 murder of the then managing director of the Karachi Electric Supply Company (KESC) Shahid Hamid.

Sources told The Express Tribune on Tuesday that these directives were issued to the high court's member inspection team (MIT) to collect such details and place before the chief justice for perusal. These directives have been issued on an application filed by death convict, Saulat Ali Mirza, who had pleaded the court defer his execution fixed for May 12 till the completion of a fresh inquiry into the KESC MD's murder.

On Thursday, the condemned prisoner had filed three applications with the SHC, which were returned by the MIT-II asking his lawyer to 'seek legal remedy' under the law. The following day, Mirza filed a fresh application arguing that the MIT-II could not return his pleas without placing the same before the chief justice to pass appropriate order on them.

In one application, the convict had pleaded the court order the police to include the accused persons he had named in his fresh video statement in the Shahid Hamid murder case, the sources said. They added that the prisoner had also requested the court order a judicial magistrate to record his statement so that a fresh charge-sheet can be submitted before the trial court.

In another plea, Mirza said his wife was receiving threatening calls from South Africa and pleaded the court order the law enforcers arrest them at the earliest. In his application, the condemned prisoner had named the SHC's MIT-II, its assistant registrar, Mach jail superintendent, Sindh home secretary, the law minister, the police IG and an anti-terrorism court, as respondents.

Sources said CJ Arab had directed the MIT to call details whether any other case is pending.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 6^th, 2015.