Naqeebullah case: Prosecutor excuses himself from case

KARACHI: Former prosecutor Ali Raza on Monday excused himself from hearing of the case against the suspended SSP Rao Anwar and his subordinates, who were arrested over the extrajudicial killing of Naqeebullah Mehsud.

Anwar and the accused subordinates appeared in the anti-terrorism court where the Sindh law department had appointed Nazeer Bhangora as the new prosecutor to hear the case.

According to details, former prosecutor Ali Raza excused himself from hearing the case further as he had been receiving threats.

Naqeebullah’s father Khan Mohammad earlier appointed Advocate Nadeem as an attorney in the murder case of his son, saying it was not feasible for him to travel to Karachi from South Waziristan for every hearing.

Bail plea on behalf of three accused, including Yasin, Supurd Hussain and Khizar Hayat, was submitted in the court.

On Saturday, an anti-terrorism court adjourned the hearing of the Naqeebullah Mehsud murder case until May 28 to indict Anwar and his subordinates in the Naqeebullah murder case.

Anwar, along with 10 of his subordinates, has been arrested on charges of abducting Naqeebullah for ransom and later killing him along with three other detainees in a fake encounter on Jan 13 in the outskirts of the city.

COMPLAINT LODGED AGAINST ANWAR:

A complaint seeking financial accountability of Anwar was filed in the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on Monday.

The complaint was lodged by Naqeebullah’s father through his counsel at the office of NAB Sindh Director-General Mohammad Altaf Bawani. The complaint asked the anti-graft watchdog to launch an inquiry into the acquisition of assets beyond means.

Citing a total of 74 trips to Dubai since 2012, the complainant has also accused Anwar of money laundering. “It is incomprehensible for an officer with a maximum salary of Rs113,772 to be able to afford as many trips,” reads the complaint.

“It is clear that the aforementioned trips have been financed through assets acquired beyond means and in order to launder money,” alleged the complaint filed to NAB.

Noting that acquiring assets or pecuniary resources disproportionate to the known sources of income is an offence under Section 9(v) of NAB Ordinance 1999 and money laundering is an offence under Section 3 of Anti-Money Laundering Act 2010, Naqeebullah’s father requested the bureau to launch an inquiry into Anwar’s finances.

In his letter, the father of the slain Waziristan native gave a brief history of at least 444 encounters by the Sindh Police during the tenure of the suspended SSP. Citing a summary maintained by the police, he said Anwar has a history of conducting extra-judicial murder.

According to the supplementary charge-sheet submitted by District Central SSP Dr Rizwan Ahmad Khan on the basis of Joint Investigation Team’s (JIT) report, constituted by the apex court to probe the matter on March 21, Anwar was leading the team involved in abducting Naqeebullah, Mohammad Ishaq, Mohammad Sabir and Nazar Jan and labelling them as ‘militants’ before killing them in fake encounters.

The charge-sheet maintained that Anwar could not produce any evidence to establish his innocence during investigations. The case is under trial at an anti-terrorism court (ATC) in Karachi.

VERDICT RESERVED ON ANWAR’S PLEA FOR B-CLASS JAIL FACILITIES:

An ATC on Monday reserved its verdict on application filed by Anwar, seeking B-class jail facilities in Naqeebullah murder case.

Anwar, through his counsel, filed an application requesting the ATC to allow B-class facilities for him in the prison on which the judge reserved his verdict that will be pronounced later.

Meanwhile the court also issued non bail able warrants for the arrest of absconding accused.