Legal battle for Abdullah’s custody begins

KARACHI: A local court on Saturday heard a case that would determine legal custody of lost boy Abdullah currently living at the Edhi Centre.

Abdullah’s alleged father Chaudhry Iqbal presented himself in the court. His lawyer demanded that Abdullah be returned to his client as he is his legal and biological father.

Meanwhile, defense lawyer representing Faisal Edhi argued that Iqbal had not met his son for two years. Also he was not able to produce a Nikkah document in the court.

He added that a DNA test be conducted to determine Chaudhry Iqbal’s claims of fatherhood.

The judge adjourned the hearing till June 15.

Prime suspect Rizwan Ayaz Khan testified in a local court on Friday that he had not murdered Abdullah’s mother Haleema. He added that the Haleema’s stepson Chaudhry Ansar had killed her over a property dispute.

Earlier he had confessed to police that he had killed Haleema due to quarrels over money.

Rizwan was the person who had brought Abdullah to the Edhi Centre in May claiming he had found her at Sea View.

It was on June 1 that police located twenty-five-year-old Haleema’s body from an apartment which was discovered to have been handed over to her through Rizwan - a real estate agent.

The police had identified the suspect from the Edhi Centre’s CCTV camera footage. A day later police officials arrested Rizwan’s wife Sonia from their house located in Mehmoodabad. She was sent on a nine-day physical remand by a judicial magistrate on June 4.

Sonia alleged that Rizwan had asked her to leave with him but he fled after she refused. The wife during interrogation disclosed that Rizwan had brought Haleema over to their place for some time but later got her an apartment in Delhi Colony.

A resident of Qayyumabad, Haleema was reported to have left the area for Multan with Abdullah and her husband, Iqbal, three months ago. According to a neighbour, who spoke to Faisal Edhi after Abdullah’s pictures were shown on television channels, the family had left for Iqbal’s medical treatment.

Haleema’s brother – also the one who identified her body – confirmed the neighbour’s story and informed that Iqbal had passed away during treatment after which she had come back to Karachi.

However, on June 5, 69-year-old Muhammad Iqbal claiming to be the deceased’ husband reached the Edhi Centre in Karachi to get Abdullah’s custody. According to the man, he had divorced Haleema a few months ago after they had been married for 10 years. 

Iqbal met Abdullah at the Edhi Centre after his arrival to Karachi, but the boy he claimed to be his son refused to recognize him and broke into tears.