Prime witness in Sabeen Mahmud murder case killed

KARACHI: The prime witness in the Sabeen Mahmud murder case was gunned down in Sector-C of Bhittai Colony near Korangi Crossing on Monday night.

Police constable Ghulam Abbas, 48, who worked as a driver with the deputy director of the Anti-Corruption Establishment, was attacked outside a mosque near his house.

The constable worked part-time as T2F director Sabeen Mahmud’s driver

Quaidabad sub-divisional police officer Rao Mohammad Iqbal said two men visited Abbas’ house and when they were told that the constable had gone to a nearby mosque for prayers, they went after him and shot him.

The constable was taken to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre where he succumbed to his injuries. He had suffered bullet wounds to his chest.

Counter-terrorism department official Raja Umer Khattab said the constable was the prime witness in the T2F director’s murder case and had identified the main suspect, Saad Aziz, as the attacker.

The official said the same men had visited the constable’s house two days ago, but he was not there. He added that Abbas was sitting in the backseat of Mahmud’s car when she was attacked.

“The security of other witnesses in the case has become a concern now,” Khattab said.

“We request the government to chalk out a system for the protection of witnesses,” he added

The official said the trial of Mahmud’s murder case was almost over and the suspects were on the verge of being convicted but the prime witnesses had been killed. “The constable had witnessed the entire attack.”

Khattab suspected that al Qaeda Indian Subcontinent could be behind the attack.

Police have launched investigation into the killing of Ghulam Abbas and recorded the statements of his family and the area people on Tuesday.

The family, in the statement, says that the same man who fired upon Abbas had visited the constable’s house two days ago, but he was not there.

The area people said, the gunmen opened fire on Ghulam Abbas outside his residence at the time when locality was plunged into darkness owing to loadshedding.

Initial Investigation Report

Police have prepared the initial investigation report of the murder according to which there is no evidence linking it to the murder of Sabeen Mahmud.

A woman and child were present with the attacker who killed Sabeen Mahmud’s driver.