KARACHI: An anti-terrorism court (ATC) on Monday indicted former Malir SSP Rao Anwar for the murder of Naqeebullah Mehsud in a fake encounter in Karachi.
Anwar and other suspects, who were present in court for the hearing when charges were framed against them , pleaded not guilty. The court then ordered the complainant and the magistrate, who recorded the testimonies of eye witnesses, to appear on April 11 and adjourned the hearing.
Five suspects, including Anwar and former deputy superintendent of police Qamar, are on bail while thirteen police officials are in jail on judicial remand in connection to the case.
Naqeebullah Mehsud, a 27-year-old native of Waziristan, was among three others who were accused of terrorism and killed on the orders of Malir SSP Rao Anwar in January 2018, in what was later termed a ‘fake encounter’.
An high-level inquiry committee, formed soon after the news surfaced following the claims of innocence from Naqeebullah’s family, concluded that the deceased has no ties with terrorists.
Rao Anwar and others complicit in the ‘fake encounter’ went into hiding right after the inquiry committee was formed. Owing to their running away and hiding and alleged involvement in the case, an FIR was registered against Anwar and his associates.
