An anti-terrorism court (ATC) on Tuesday recorded the statements of three prosecution witnesses in extrajudicial murder case of Sarfaraz Shah, wherein the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC) Medico Legal Officer (MLO) informed the trial court that the youth had died of excessive bleeding and not of a fatal bullet wound.
Appearing before ATC-I Judge Bashir Ahmed Khoso, JPMC MLO Dr Ayaz Memon stated that the actual cause behind the youth’s death was excessive blooding. Another witness named Abdul Rasheed testified that he saw a person wearing a cap and a white shirt, handing over the deceased to the Rangers personnel as one of them kept on shouting at the youth and then shot him and left him there to die.
Rasheed – an employee of City District Government Karachi –had already identified the alleged accused before a magistrate during the identification parade under Article 164 of criminal procedure code (CrPC). The witness is the deputy director of Shaheed Benazir Bhutto Park, where the incident occurred. He stated that he was busy in supervising sanitation works in the park, when he heard people shouting and saw a civilian taking Sarfaraz away.
A Rangers’ van entered into the park and the civilian handed over the deceased to the law enforcement personnel. He also recognised alleged accused Afsar Khan, saying that he was the man who handed over Sarfaraz to the Rangers.
The third prosecution witness, sub-inspector Nasrullah, in his statement recorded that he reached the crime scene after the incident and examined the spot wherein he found twelve bullets including two that were fired.
Later, the police took them in their custody and also seized the rifle used in the extrajudicial shooting. After recording their statements, the court adjourned the hearing of the case until Tuesday (today). Rangers Sub-Inspector Bahaur Rehman, Lance Naik Liaquat Ali, constables Mohammad Tariq, Minthar Ali, Shahid Zafar, Mohammad Afzal and private contractor Afsar Khan were put on trial for murdering 22-year-old Sarfaraz Shah with common intention inside the Shaheed Benazir Bhutto Park in Clifton on June 8.
According to the prosecution, the deceased was killed in an extrajudicial killing by paramilitary personnel, accusing him of committing robbery. The case was registered against the alleged accused by the Boat Basin police under sections 302, 34 and 36 of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) read with Section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act. A case (FIR 227/2011) under sections 302 and 34 PPC was lodged against the law enforcement agency personnel appearing in the video footage at the same police station on complaint of the victim’s brother Salik Shah. Later, Section 7 of Anti-Terrorism Act 1997 was also incorporated in the FIR.
Youth died of excessive bleeding: JPMC MLO
