Murtaza Bhutto

SUDDLE GRANTED PRE-ARREST BAIL
KARACHI, Nov. 11, 1996: The Deputy Inspector General of Police, Karachi
range, Dr Shoaibm Suddle, was granted pre-arrest bail by the Sindh High
Court in Murtaza Bhutto murder case. The DIG appeared before the High
Court and was granted Rs200,000 pre-arrest bail. Dr Suddle is one of the
police officers named in the FIR lodged by Noor Mohammad, one of the
associates of Mir Murtaza Bhutto.
The pre-arrest bail application filed by Abdul Qadir Siddiqui, former
provincial law secretary, has cited eight reasons which entitled the DIG to
bail. The bail application said that the DIG was falsely implicated in the FIR
and the charges levelled against him were baseless. He said that even the
statement that Murtaza Bhutto had said hours before the incident that a
conspiracy was being hatched to arrest him and his workers was wrong. The
deceased had not spoken about any conspiracy against him in which the DIG
was involved, the application said. He said his case comes within the ambit of
the observations made by the high court in the petition for the registration of
third FIR. There was no evidence to establish the charge that a conspiracy had
been hatched to eliminate Mir Murtaza.
The DIG, in his application, submitted that mere allegations of the
complainant (Noor Mohammad) regarding a conspiracy to eliminate the
deceased could not establish even a prima facie case of commission of the
offence against him (DIG). The commission of crime could not be sustained
on surmises and conjectures, he maintained.
He further said that the FIR did not provide any direct evidence which could
incriminate him. In the absence of any evidence against him, he deserved to
be granted pre-arrest bail in anticipation of his arrest. He said the fifth reason
why he should be granted a pre-arrest bail was that he was a very
experienced and responsible police officer and that if bail was refused to him,
he would be subjected to humiliation and unjustified harassment "in view of
the hostile political situation prevailing in the country."
ZEESHAN KAZMI: Justice Kamal Mansur Alam, Judge of the Sindh High
Court, on Monday ordered issuance of notice to the advocate general, on an
application for pre-arrest bail submitted on behalf of inspector Zeeshan
Kazmi, SHO of Khokrapar police station.
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