We know who changed samples of bottles found from hospital room: CJP

By
Asif Bashir Chaudhary
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ISLAMABAD: Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Mian Saqib Nisar on Tuesday passed remarks on alcohol bottles seized from Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) leader Sharjeel Memon’s hospital room during his surprise visit and said he knows fully well under whose supervision samples were changed. 

The chief justice's remarks came as he heard cases at the Supreme Court.

During the hearing of a case, Sindh chief secretary noted that a report on the contents of the bottles seemed 'suspicious'.

"It seems that the report has been tampered with," the Sindh chief secretary said while adding that CCTV footage is available of the hospital and Memon's room which had been declared sub-jail.

"We will submit a report after looking into the matter," he said.

To this, Justice Nisar said, "I had not called for an examination of the contents of the bottles found from the hospital room."

The chief justice further said that he "saw no bottle of honey" in the former Sindh information minister's room when he visited.

He continued, "Memon never denied that there was alcohol in the bottles, he just said there were not his."

"In Sindh, all politicians fall ill and get shifted from the jail to a hospital," the CJP remarked.

Later during the day, while hearing another case, the CJP again spoke about his surprise visit to Memon's hospital room and said, “There has been a hue and cry over my visit.”

“Just go and visit that room it is like a presidential suite,” he added.

Justice Nisar further clarified, “I had not intended to seize alcohol and if I wanted to conduct an inquiry, I would have sent the samples for testing myself and would have gotten the suspects arrested then.”

“We know fully well who changed the samples,” he added.

Further, during the hearing of a third case, the chief justice said, "I found out that an important prisoner is admitted in the presidential suite of a Karachi hospital." 

"We are aware of the conversations this prisoner would have at night and also know under whose supervision the samples were later changed," the chief justice reiterated. 

"It seems as though honey and oil were recovered from the bottles after my visit," he added.

Justice Nisar on Saturday made a surprise visit to rooms of political prisoners in three hospitals in Karachi, including Memon's hospital room. 

During the CJP's visit, three bottles were found from the PPP leader's room and were sent for testing.

However, on Monday a test report by Chief Chemical Examiner, Dr Zahid Ansari, revealed that the bottles did not contain alcohol.

According to the report, one of the bottles contained honey and the other cooking oil. 

Further, a test report revealed that no trace of alcohol was found in the blood samples of Memon.

Memon’s blood samples were sent to two hospitals for testing. The blood samples did not contain traces of plasma alcohol and ethanol, the report stated.