ATC grills IO in student’s murder case; extends cops’ remand

ISLAMABAD: An anti-terrorism court (ATC) on Wednesday extended the physical remand of the five cops, who are accused of killing 22-year-old Islamabad student Usama Satti, for seven days.
The accused policemen, including Mudassar Iqbal, Shakeel Ahmed, Muhammad Mustafa, Saeed Ahmed and Iftikhar Ahmed, appeared before the court. The cops were booked in the case on the request of the father of slain Usama, who was gunned down by the police for not stopping his car near Sector G-10.
The investigating officer requested the court to remand the accused for another 12 days. The judge inquired whether the weapons used in the killing had been recovered.
The IO said the weapons and shells used in Usama’s killing have been recovered and said a JIT has also been formed to investigate the case.
The court asked how many bullets hit Usama and where. To this, the IO said that five bullets hit Usama from the back and one from the front.
The court asked if there were any bullet marks on Usama’s car seat. “I did not see that,” the IO responded. He then presented Usama’s medical report in court.
Judge Raja Jawad Abbas accused the investigation officer (IO) of colluding with the suspects when the investigating officer failed to present photographs of the victim’s vehicle from the front, that would ascertain where the shots were taken from.
“Where is the picture of the seat on which the bullet hit him?” the judge inquired. The officer responded to the question saying he did not have that photograph.
“You have brought the picture that shows he was shot at from behind, but not the one that shows he was shot at from the front,” the judge stated. “It seems that you are all working together,” the judge said, further questioning the reason for shooting at the victim.
The plaintiff accused the investigative officer of tampering with the evidence. The court ordered to make everything a part of the record.
“Was he [Satti] operating a rocket launcher? What was the purpose of the shooting? Every time a car doesn’t stop will you start shooting?” the ATC judge added.
“How big of a terrorist was the boy to have been shot and killed in such a manner?” Judge Abbas asked, further stating that there were thousands of proclaimed offenders roaming around in Islamabad.
On January 2, at around 2 am, Usama had gone to drop his friend in Sector H-11. When he was returning, the police officials intercepted his vehicle in Sector G-10 and fired at him from all sides.
The CTD cops killed Usama with proper planning which was a terrorist act, the FIR further stated.
However, all the personnel refuted charges of engaging in a fight with the victim any time before the incident.