LAHORE: An anti-terrorism court (ATC) on Wednesday recorded the complete statement of Kasur serial killer Imran Ali involved in at least nine incidents of rape-cum-murder of minors, including seven-year-old Zainab.

ATC-I Judge Sajjad Ahmad is holding jail trial of the suspect on an everyday basis in light of a directive issued by the Lahore High Court.

Before the commencement of Wednesday’s proceedings, Prosecutor General of Punjab Eihtesham Qadir Shah provided the suspect with a state lawyer as his private defence counsel had withdrawn power of attorney following a confession made by Imran Ali.

Advocate Mehar Shakeel Multani told reporters outside the jail that he could never think of defending a criminal, therefore, he had decided to withdraw his power of attorney. He said the suspect had misled him about his innocence.

Initially, the suspect had denied the prosecution’s case when charges were framed on him and opted to contest the trial. However, he made a confession the next day. The trial court had so far recorded testimonies of 36 prosecution witnesses. A special team of the prosecutors had been prosecuting the suspect.

Zainab was kidnapped on Jan 4 from near her aunt’s house in Kasur where she was going to learn Quran. Her body was recovered on Jan 9. The police had arrested the suspect with the help of DNA test.

Published in Dawn, February 15th, 2018