After three years, court indicts three accused of killing Dr Imran Farooq
May 02, 2018
ISLAMABAD: An anti-terrorism court announced the indictment of three accused arrested in the murder case of Muttahida Qaumi Movement leader Dr Imran Farooq.
During the hearing on Wednesday held by ATC Judge Shahrukh Arjumand, Federal Investigation Agency Prosecutor Khawaja Imtiaz presented charge sheet against the accused — Syed Mohsin Ali, Moazzam Ali and Khalid Shamim.
The charge sheet states that Farooq's murder was planned in Karachi and London.
The court also summoned witnesses, Additional Deputy Commissioner Captain (retd) Shoaib Ali and FIA Counter-Terrorism Wing’s Abdul Mannan, at the next hearing on May 8 to record their statements.
Moreover, the magistrate who recorded the accused’s confessional statement has also been summoned as a witness at the next hearing.
The accused are being held in Rawalpindi’s Adiala Jail, where the hearing takes place.
In a statement recorded earlier, Shamim and Mohsin Ali told the court that Farooq was killed as he was a potential threat to the leadership of MQM.
After Farooq’s party membership was suspended, the MQM founder said during a telephonic speech that he could be murdered, Shamim told the magistrate.
A copy of the statement obtained by Geo News revealed that after the MQM founder’s speech, party leader Mohammad Anwar told him, “Listen to the speech carefully, the quaid has left a message for you for the future”.
Therefore, Shamim said, he murdered Farooq on September 16, 2010 as a birthday gift to the MQM founder – on September 17.
The case against MQM founder and other party leaders over Farooq’s murder was registered in December 2015 by the Federal Investigation Agency. The three accused were arrested in the same year over their reported involvement in the crime.
Relevant clauses of the anti-terrorism act and sections on conspiracy, abatement and assassination were included in the first information report.
Farooq, 50, was murdered outside his house in London on September 16, 2010. A post-mortem examination of his body revealed that he was stabbed to death.
According to the London police, a kitchen knife and a brick used in the attack were recovered from the crime site.
