KARACHI – Additional and District Judge (ADJ) West Gulshan Aara Chandio on Saturday reserved the judgment on the acquittal plea of National Highway Authority (NHA) Chairman Chaudry Altaf from the Shershah bridge collapse case under Section 265-K.
The NHA chief, ex-chairman NHA Major General (r) Farrukh Javed, operations member Raja Nowsherwan, general manager (construction) Mohammed Yousaf Barakzai, ex-general manager (construction) retired colonel Tahseenul Haq, former member Syed Najamul Hassan, M/s Engineering Consultants International Limited (ECIL) officials Zaheer Mirza, Khaild Mirza and Naveed Mirza were booked in the case registered on the order of the apex court on April 7 last year.
Earlier, during the regular case proceedings, prosecution witness Asim Amin appeared in the ADJ’s court and deposed that he joined the NHA in December 2003 as general manager (design) while a contract for the design of Northern Bypass was executed between the NHA chairman and ECIL’s Khalid Mirza in July 2001. Last year on October 30, Head of Inquiry Board DIG (investigation) Iftikhar Hussain Tarrar had filed a report submitting that all the alleged accused were innocent.
The alleged accused were earlier booked at the SITE police station in the case (FIR No 181/2010) for their alleged negligence committed during the construction of the Shershah bridge under sections 322 (punishment for qatl-bis-sabab), 431 (mischief by injury to public road, bridge, river or channel), 427 (mischief causing damage to the amount of fifty rupees) and 337-H (punishment for hurting by rash or negligent act) of the Pakistan Penal Code.
