Hamza Ahmed murder case: Policeman records statement before court

KARACHI: In what appears to be the first testimony formally recorded in the two-and-half-year-old Hamza Ahmed murder case, an anti-terrorism court (ATC) documented on Saturday the statement of a policeman who registered the complaint.

Sub-inspector Abdul Rasheed told the ATC-III judge, Saleem Raza Baloch, that he personally visited the hospital and saw the body of the teenage boy, Ahmed, there, after which, he noted the complaint against the accused person.

Seventeen-year-old Ahmed was allegedly killed by the security guard of his classmate, Shoaib Naveed, after they got into a heated argument outside a restaurant in Defence Housing Authority on April 27, 2013. According to the prosecution, Naveed, 16, son of a businessman, asked his gunman, Ammal Rehman, to fire at Ahmed. The suspects fled the scene after committing the crime.



The court, on the previous hearing, had indicted the suspects in the case. Rehman, the alleged shooter, was charged for the murder in absentia as he remains absconding since the incident. Naveed, his driver, Mushtaq, and another guard, Idrees, were charged for abetting and harbouring the shooter.

During the hearing, after the policeman recorded his testimony, the counsel representing the accused cross-questioned him. The judge, after listening to the arguments over the statement, concluded the hearing and summoned more witnesses on the next date of hearing.



In the initial stages, Naveed's father was also named as an offender. However, during investigations, the police could not determine his role in the murder. All of the suspects are currently on bail.

The case was registered under sections 302 (premeditated murder), 109 (abetment) and 34 (common intention) of the Pakistan Penal Code, read with section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act at the Darakhshan police station.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 22^nd, 2015.