ISLAMABAD: In a far-reaching observation, the Supreme Court on Tuesday said forensic evidence linking suspect to the crime was sufficient to prove them guilty, and a lack of witness statements was no longer a hindrance to development.
Justice Qazi Muhammad Amin Ahmed made this observation during the hearing of a bail request of a police officer in the murder of a state prosecutor.
Senior Superintendent of Police Mufakhar Adeel murdered assistant advocate general Shahbaz Tatla in February last year ostensibly in the name of “honour”.
After hiding from police for about a month, Adeel handed himself over to police in the first week of March but only after engaging with some senior police officers to get assurance that the investigation police would not physically torture him after arrest.
A three-member bench of the top court, headed by Justice Ijazul Ahsan, which is hearing the case, rejected the bail request of Adeel after he informed the court of lack of interest in seeking bail.
Prosecutor Azam Nazeer Tarar told the court that Tatla was murdered in a brutal manner. While counsel for the suspect, Mohammad Ramzan Chaudhry, said of the 32 witnesses listed in the case, statements of only 13 had been recorded so far.
At this, Justice Ahmed ruled witnesses or no witnesses, the evidence against the former police official was concrete and irrefutable to convict him.
Justice Ahsan observed Adeel had fled to Gilgit-Baltistan after killing Tatla and dissolving his body.
However, Adeel’s counsel retorted that he had not escaped but was on duty in the mountainous region.
Tarar argued that everything, including Adeel’s phone, his location and his purchasing an acid, was on record.
And when Chaudhry complained that there had been no progress in the case for more than a year, Justice Ahsan asked him if he withdraws the bail application of his client, the court will issue directives to speed up the probe.
