Statement recorded in cop’s ‘murder’ case

SPECIAL Judicial Magistrate Yaseen Mohal on Monday recorded the statement of a witness in the case of a trainee constable Hassan Raza who was killed in allegedly fake encounter by two Mohafiz Force constables in May 2007. The court, holding a judicial inquiry into the police encounter, recorded the statement of any witness from complainant side for the first time during the last one year after the victim’s family appeared in the chief minister’s open court last month. The family had alleged that Hassan Raza’s murder case was being put in cold storage as no progress was made in the judicial inquiry, adding that two Mohafiz Force constables, Ziaullah and Kashif, had killed their son in a fake encounter over a business deal. Sheikh Mubashir Hussain, the victim’s uncle, who was accompanying him on the day of his murder, while appearing before the court, stated that no encounter took place on that night and the accused Kashif and Zaiullah killed nephew. It is pertinent to mention that on strict directions of Punjab Chief Minister Mian Shahbaz Sharif, a case was registered under Section 506 against the two accused policemen with the Gulberg Police Station on July 31, 2008. The court, in the next hearing, will hear final arguments of both parties.