Waqas Shah’s alleged killer remanded for two weeks

Rangers claim the suspect killed Shah during the raid on MQM headquarters

KARACHI: An anti-terrorism court granted on Saturday physical custody of the alleged killer of Muttahida Qaumi Movement's (MQM) central information member Waqas Ali Shah to the police for two weeks.

The judge directed the IO to produce the suspect, Asif Ali, along with the final charge-sheet against him in the court on the next date of hearing.

On Thursday, Rangers had claimed that Ali had killed Shah during the raid on the MQM Headquarters, Nine Zero, on March 11. The Azizabad police booked and arrested him under sections 302 and 34 of the Pakistan Penal Code read with section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997.

On Saturday, the IO produced Ali in court to seek his physical custody. The officer said that the Rangers had handed over Ali's custody to them a day ago and that he had to be interrogated to recover the murder weapon.

On the other hand, the lawyers representing MQM's legal committee disputed the police's claim regarding Ali's involvement in the murder. They claimed that the MQM activist had been implicated in another party worker's murder.

However, the judge remanded the suspect to police custody for two weeks for interrogation.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 28^th, 2015.