KARACHI: A judicial magistrate remanded a suspect in police custody for one day on Sunday in a drug case.
The investigating officer (IO), Syed Ghous Hakim, produced actor Syed Sahir Hassan before duty magistrate (South) Sajjad Ali Jamali and sought his physical custody for further interrogation regarding the source of 557 grams of weed allegedly recovered from him.
The suspect’s father, renowned actor Sajid Hassan was also present in court along with his counsel Faraz Fahim.
Advocate Fahim later told Dawn that he opposed the IO’s request for physical custody and pleaded to remand him in judicial custody.
He said he argued before the court that the police had falsely implicated his client with mala fide intent, as his father had already been pursuing a legal battle in the Sindh High Court since 2022 in a lawsuit against the Darakhshan police station and a former senior police official.
He contended that, as per the FIR, the police had apprehended his client at around 4:30pm on Saturday; however, he claimed that his client had actually been arrested from his house at 5am and falsely implicated in the case.
He added that he informed the court that his client was targeted due to the lawsuit — for the recovery of damages amounting to Rs700 million on account of malicious prosecution — filed by his father against police officials.
He said that this case had no connection with the prime suspect, Armaghan, in the Mustafa Amir murder case.
After hearing both sides, the court remanded the suspect in police custody for one day and directed the IO to produce him before the court on Monday (today), along with a complete progress report and case diaries without fail.
According to the FIR, Inspector Aftab Abbasi stated that on Feb 22, he, along with other policemen, was searching for a proclaimed offender wanted in a terrorism case. Upon reaching the jurisdiction of Gizri police station, he received information from a source that an individual was going to deliver weed in Khayaban-i-Rahat, Phase VI. He said that the police raided the place, arrested suspect Sahir and allegedly recovered five packets of weed — weighing over 500 grams — from his hand-carry bag.
Published in Dawn, February 24th, 2025
