ATC grants bail to Karachi’s suspected knife attacker

By
Amin Anwar
|

KARACHI: The anti-terrorism court issued orders on Tuesday for the release of Shahzad, who was accused of stabbing women in the city.

During a hearing on the case, police told the court no evidence was found against Shahzad, which is why he should be granted bail.

Subsequently, Shahzad was released under Section 497 of Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898. Under the law, bail may be taken in cases of non-bailable offence.

Shahzad was arrested in October in Karachi, after the city police released pictures — screengrabs from the closed-circuit camera television footage — of the suspect. The photos showed a man on a motorbike moments before attacks one of the victims.

"The suspect appears to be a thin man, aged 20-29," DIG East Sultan Khawaja had said, adding that "he appears to be 5 feet, 7-9 inches tall" and usually rides a red motorcycle.

Earlier, Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah had claimed the knife attack suspect was identified to be the same person who was behind similar attack in Punjab’s Chichawatni area.

He added similar attacks started taking place in Chichawatni in 2013, which went on for three years and during which 50 women were injured.

However, the attacker remains at large even after injuring 15 women.