An anti-terrorism court (ATC) directed the investigation officer (IO) of the Nazim Jokhio murder case to bring all relevant papers of the case so that the additional prosecutor general may be prepared to argue on acceptance of the charge sheet or otherwise.
The court also issued notices to all the accused who are not in judicial custody through the IO and ordered production of those in judicial custody.
The IO had on Wednesday submitted the charge sheet before the ATC excluding names of thirteen accused, including Pakistan Peoples Party MNA Jam Abdul Karim and his brother MPA Jam Owais.
The IO included the section 7 of Anti-Terrorism Act in the case but named only two persons, Haider Ali and Mir Ali, as the accused who were sent for trial while one accused Niaz Ali was shown as an absconder.
The accused whom the investigation officer did not include in the charge sheet were Karim, Owaid, Mohammad Saleem, Dodo Khan, Mohammad Soomar, Abdul Razzak, Jamal Ahmed, Mohammad Miraj, Mohammad Khan, Mohammad Ishaque, Ahmed Khan, Atta Mohammad and Zahid Ali.
The ATC on Friday also issued notices to the special prosecutor and counsels of all the accused on applications of prosecution witness and the National Commission of Human Rights (NCHR) that had questioned political interference in the case and wanted to assist the court.
The NCHR had alleged that government functionaries were making attempts to influence the investigations into the case and there was no chance of fair trial and justice conclusion of the case.
if it was left at the mercy of state offices including those of the prosecutor general and advocate general Sindh.
A prosecution witness, Mazhar Ali Junejo, alleged that the IO tried to benefit the accused in the charge sheet as he submitted a fresh charge sheet contrary to the charge sheet submitted before a judicial magistrate.
The witness submitted that the exclusion of 13 accused from the charge sheet was illegal and asked the court to direct the investigation officer to include their names on the list of the accused and send all these accused for trial.
The court issued notices to all the relevant parties as well as the state prosecutor to assist the court on acceptance of charge sheet or otherwise and adjourned the hearing till April 21.
Police had on January 26 submitted a charge sheet in Nazim Jokhio murder case before a judicial magistrate Malir against Pakistan People Party MPA Owais and four others arrested persons and declared MNA Karim and four others as absconders in the case.
The judicial magistrate however refused to accept the charge sheet on February 8 and directed the investigation officer to submit the charge sheet before an ATC as the case was fit to be tried before a special court for anti-terrorism.
