Groom’s father named as accused : Couple’s murder case
KARACHI, Oct 27: The investigation officer in the double murder case of the newly-wed couple on Saturday submitted a progress report to the judicial magistrate-12, Central, Abdul Zahoor Chandio, in which he nominated Shaikh Abdul Majeed, father of the late bridegroom Hafiz Shaikh Mohammad Azeem, as the main accused.
Azeem Shaikh and his bride Beenish were found dead in mysterious circumstances the next morning of their wedding night in their North Nazimabad apartment in the Taimuria police limits on Aug 11.
An FIR (391/07) of the case was registered at the Taimuria police station under Section 302/34 of the Pakistan Penal Code.
Referring to Mr Shaikh’s interviews on a TV channel, IO Khalid Khan of North Karachi Industrial Area police station said Shaikh had himself admitted his presence up to 5am in the couple’s room. He said Beenish was also murdered within two to three minutes between 4am and 5am by breaking her jaws and covering her nose and mouth with a pillow.
Talking to Dawn, the IO alleged that the accused had given poison to the couple in sweetmeat (gulab jaman) and as the woman became intoxicated, he killed her by putting a pillow on her face.
“As the bride, Beenish, resisted her jaw was broken which was also shown by the medical report as being about 60 per cent out of its exact angle.”
He said Majeed remained till 5am in the couple’s room as he waited to see them become unconscious so that he could kill the bride, Beenish. He added that the crime scene was also disturbed by washing the room and removing different articles from their places.
Earlier, the former IO in the case, Mohammad Ashraf of the Taimuria police station, had submitted three progress reports to the court on different dates. But following a court’s order, police high-ups assigned the case to the senior investigation officer, Inspector Khalid Khan of the New Karachi Industrial Area police station.
On Sept 20, the late groom’s father, Abdul Majeed Shaikh, through his counsel Shaikh Javaid Mir, submitted an application to the district and sessions judge, Central, Abdul Maalik, under Section 22-A (6) (iii)/(iv) of the Criminal Procedure Code.
In the application, the provincial police officer, the additional inspector-general of police (investigations), the capital city police officer and the state had been named as respondents.
The applicant had requested for the transfer of the case’s investigation to any other zone, citing his lack of confidence in IO Ashraf of the Taimuria police station. He alleged that the investigation officer was biased and was trying to hush up the investigation.
Following the nomination of Shaikh Abdul Majeed in the case, when contacted by Dawn, he outrightly rejected the police version and termed it baseless.
“I have already expressed my dissatisfaction over the investigation process and submitted an application to the court for shifting the investigation from Zone West to another zone and for assigning it to an honest police officer,” Majeed said.
“Azeem was my only son, who always obeyed me and I could have dissuaded him from marrying Beenish if I had wished so,” he said.
“The marriage took place after two years of the engagement which was a long period for dissuading my son against it, but I did not hesitate to fulfill his wishes and not only arranged his marriage with Beenish but also purchased whatever he liked in the market,” he further stated.
He also said the police not only repeatedly interrogated him for hours, but used dirty language against his parents and other family members.
He said he was tightly blindfolded and taken to different police stations where police subjected him to severe torture in the presence of many people. He said he could not see his tormentors.
Mr Majeed again accused Abdul Samad and Abdul Ghayoor of killing the couple and demanded that the authorities arrest and charge them in the case. He said the police officials were torturing him as he did not bribe them.
He said a blood-stained tissue paper was handed over to the police but it had not been sent for a chemical examination. He said one of his daughters was also poisoned and the police officials had admitted it but the medical report was altered later.
The judicial magistrate directed the IO to submit the final charge-sheet on Oct 31.
Shaikh Abdul Majeed obtained pre-arrest bail from the additional district and sessions judge-V, Tasneed Sultana, on Oct 23 and he is supposed to appear in court on Nov 2 for the confirmation of his bail-before-arrest.
The accused also submitted a criminal petition on Oct 19 in the court of district and sessions judge, Central, Abdul Maalik, against the provincial police officer and others for their non-compliance of the court’s order to produce a charge-sheet within seven days.
Criminal petition 375/2007, filed on Friday by Mr Majeed through his counsel Shaikh Javaid Mir, stated that on Sept 20 the petitioner filed an application for the transfer of the investigation from Zone West to another zone because of the investigation team’s failure to arrest the actual accused and its victimization of the bereaved family.
The petition is still in process in the court. The IO said the main accused was nominated in the case, but he could not be arrested as the court had granted him pre-arrest bail, and added that he would plead for his police custody on the day of hearing.
Source: Dawn
Date:10/28/2007
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