ISLAMABAD: The Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) on Monday granted police one-day physical remand of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Ali Amin Gandapur in a terrorism case.
Police produced Gandapur before ATC judge Raja Jawad Abbas after the completion of his physical remand in another case for obtaining another remand.
The court while hearing the case, approved one-day physical remand of Gandapur and directed the police to conduct a medical examination of the accused before and after the remand. The court also directed the police to submit the Gandapur voice matching report before it on Tuesday (today).
During the hearing, the investigation officer (IO) requested the court for granting five days’ physical remand of the accused for conducting further investigation from him.
The judge questioned the IO that how the case against Gandapur has been registered without his voice matching.
To this, the IO said that he has been assigned to the investigation and he has no further information.
The prosecutor said that he came to know about the audio of the accused through television channels.
The judge questioned the prosecutor that the incident took place on September 29 and the case has been registered after six months. When you remember things, then you registered a case, the judge further said.
The judge asked the prosecutor that did the section you included in the first information report (FIR) falls under this matter. “Was not it necessary to carry out the arrest after voice matching? How did the police arrest the accused without obtaining a warrant from the court?” the court enquired further.
Babar Awan, the counsel for the accused said that did the police record the statement of anyone from the private channels related to the audio of Ali Amin Gandapur?
The complainant of the case against Gandapur is the magistrate, he said.
The judge inquired the IO to whom Gandapur was talking to during the telephonic conversation. Gandapur was talking to a person namely, Asad Khan, he said.
To this, Awan said that the person namely, Asad Khan is unknown and surfaced after six months. If the TV channels backtracked from the audio recording then where the prosecution will stand, he asked.
Awan said what technology does the private channel have through which they verified the voice in the audio belongs to Gandapur? Did police record the statement of anyone from the private TV channel regarding Gandapur recording, Awan questioned?
Gandapur also came to the rostrum and said that if he had to commit terrorism, he would not have spoken on WhatsApp calls. He had participated in several TV programmes and held serval political gatherings.
The judge remarked that he doubts if the judicial remand of Ali Amin Gandapur is approved today, cases will not be registered in other cities. The court directed the Inspector General of Police (IGP) to submit detail of all the cases registered against Gandapur.
The judge also asked the prosecution to conduct a voice matching of Gandapur. The prosecutor told the court that detail of the cases has been submitted before the Islamabad High Court (IHC). Out of the total of 18 cases registered in Islamabad 13 cases have been quashed, he said.
The court again directed the prosecution to produce detail of the cases by tomorrow. The court, after hearing the arguments of both parties, approved one-day physical remand of Gandapur.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2023