Arshad Pappu murder case: Prosecution seems to be losing ground

The triple-murder case has seen several witnesses turning hostile or changing statements

KARACHI: The prosecution in the murder case of gangster Arshad Pappu and his aides seems to be losing its ground as one after the other, witnesses in the case are deviating from their previous statements or remain unable to identify the arrested suspects.

During Tuesday's hearing of the triple murder case, a 'key' witness failed to support the prosecution's contentions that Pappu, his brother Arafat and their associate Jumma Shera, were picked up by the police from a flat in Defence Housing Authority and driven to Lyari where they were handed over to their rival gangsters.

A Frontier Constabulary official, whose name has not been mentioned to maintain privacy, deposed before the anti-terror judge that on the night of March 16, 2013, he, along with the then Chakiwara police station's SHO, Chand Khan Niazi, who is an absconding suspect in the case, went to a place in DHA.

Read: Arshad Pappu case: Arrest warrants issued for investigation officer

After a brief wait, a man whose face was covered with a piece of cloth was brought to them, he added. They put him in the police mobile and drove to Mirza Adam Khan Road.

The witness told the court that SHO Niazi, after making some calls on his mobile phone, parked the mobile there and waited for about ten minutes until a Toyota Vigo arrived.

The man was then transferred to the pick-up truck, he said, adding that in the dark cover of the night, he could not see the men in the vehicle. "The Vigo then sped away and we returned to the police station."

The statement, though recorded, was in contradiction to the prosecution's claim that the trio was kidnapped from the flat before they were brutally murdered in Lyari.

Earlier, the prosecution had claimed that the FC man, who was then posted with SHO Niazi, would have seen the trio being kidnapped and then handed over to the gangsters. However, the story differed slightly.

Earlier in April, two police constables had also dramatically changed their versions before the trial court, deposing that they were compelled to give statements against the accused. They were neither present at the crime scene nor did they know the about the case, the constables said, adding that they were forced to narrate pre-written statements before the judicial magistrate who presided over the identification parade.

Moreover, the trial has also faced unfortunate incidents of witnesses' assassinations as, according to a court official, around three witnesses have been gunned down in separate acts. Recently, the case suffered a setback when the investigating officer of the case told the court that he was unable to trace the whereabouts of Pappu's widow and his son, who is one of the prime witnesses since he saw the men taking away his father and two uncles.

The mother and son were required by the court for recording of their statements, but the IO said that they had left the city and were believed to be in hiding somewhere in Balochistan.

Pappu's widow was the one who had approached the Supreme Court seeking orders for the registration of an FIR against her husband's murder.

Despite having heard a long list of witnesses, the court still has to record the statements of a few more after which the case will enter the decisive phase.

As of now five suspects, including Pakistan Peoples Party lawmaker Shahjehan Baloch, some activists of the defunct Peoples Amn Committee and two police officers, are in jail, while one is currently on bail, for their alleged involvement in the murder. The absconders in the case include PAC chief Uzair Jan Baloch, Baba Ladla, SHO Niazi and others.

Pappu himself faced a number of cases of murder, attempted murder, kidnapping, drug peddling and others but never got convicted. A year before his death, he was exonerated for lack of evidence in the murder case of transporter Faiz Muhammad alias Mama Faizu, the father of Uzair Baloch.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 9^th, 2015.