LAHORE: An anti-terrorism court on Saturday directed the complainant of Sabzazar shootout case to submit property documents of former Punjab chief minister Mian Shahbaz Sharif, who is an absconder in the case.
After holding arguments on the complainant's application seeking confiscation of Shahbaz's property, the court issued the direction and adjourned the hearing till September 22. Complainant's counsel Aftab Ahmad Bajwa said that the court on June 17, 2004 had declared Shahbaz a proclaimed offender (PO) and his property should be confiscated under the law.
He said section 87 and 88 of Criminal Procedure Code (Cr.PC) said that an accused, who does not appear before the court even after issuance of warrants, could be declared a PO and the whole property moveable or immoveable of the accused should be confiscated.
According to the case, an ASI Lala Roshan had raided the house of Saeeduddin and took his son Salahuddin to the police station and demanded Rs 5,000 for his release, which his father did not pay.
The ASI then handed Salahuddin over to Muslim Town Police SHO Babar Ashraf who allegedly enhanced the ransom demand to Rs 200,000. Saeeduddin said he came to know that his son and four others Wakeel, Waseem, Haider and Abdur Rauf had been killed in a police encounter through a newspaper report.
He alleged that the-then Punjab CM Shahbaz Sharif had directed the police to kill his son. He said the police refused to register a case, so he approached the Lahore High Court (LHC), which directed the police to register the case.
The court had charge-sheeted 10 accused in the case so far. They are former Lahore senior superintendent of police Ahmad Raza Tahir, deputy superintendent of police Umar Virk, assistant sub-inspectors Zulfiqar Ahmad and Lala Roshan, head constable Noorul Hassan, and constables Abid Hussain, Shamshad Ahmad, Munir Ahmad, Muhammad Riaz and Hakim Ali.
