A melancholic mood swept over those present at the anti-terrorism court (ATC) on Monday as they watched the original footage of the grisly murder of Sarfaraz Shah – the youth who was shot dead in the Benazir Bhutto Shaheed Park on June 8.
The footage was shown as the statement of the editing engineer of Pakistan Television (PTV) was being recorded.
The editing engineer, Shakeel Ahmed Sheikh, confirmed the authenticity of the video that was telecasted by different private TV channels.
Testifying before Judge Bashir Ahmed Khoso as a witness, he confirmed that a team of PTV had verified the video clipping, filmed by a cameraman of a private TV channel, and had sealed the report regarding the authenticity of the video footage.
He stated that in the light of the communiqué sent by DIG Sultan Ahmed Khawaja, SP Niaz Ahmed Khoso and DSP Altaf Hussain, he along with two other experts working at PTV had fully examined the video-clip and found it to be genuine.
Inspector Muhammad Mubin, recorded his statement saying that he along with the IO, DIG Sultan Ahmed Khawaja and other officials had visited the crime scene for examination and collected blood samples and some other evidence. He added that they had also visited the office of the private TV channel, whose cameraman had filmed the scene where they met the cameraman and other staff members to record their statements.
The official stated that on June 12, the police had visited the Abdullah Shah Ghazi 32 wing of Pakistan Rangers (Sindh) office and met the DSR Ahmed Karim Awan. The accused Rangers personnel including sub-inspector Bahaur Rehman, lance naik Liaquat Ali and constables Mohammad Tariq, Muhammad Afzal and Minthar Ali were handed over to their custody.
The Rangers officials had also submitted their rifles to the police. On June 13, a Rangers constable Abdul Rehman had came to the police station to submit a 30-bore pistol claiming that it was recovered from Shah’s possession. After recording the statement of two men, the trial court adjourned the court till next hearing on Tuesday.
