KARACHI, Jan 19 An additional district and sessions judge (south) indicted on Monday Kamran Tessori, a well-known gold trader, in a case of possession of illicit weapons.

The Judge, Nizar Ali Khawaja, read out the charges against the accused who pleaded not guilty. He opted to contest the case to which the court directed the prosecution to present witnesses on the next date of hearing.

Mr Tessori has been accused of possessing illicit weapons and a case was registered against him under Section 13-E [has in his possession or under his control any arms, ammunition or military stores in contravention of provisions of Section 9 (unlicensed possession of arms)] of the Arms Ordinance 1965, at Gizri police station.

The police had arrested Kamran Tessori at Karachi airport upon his arrival from Islamabad on Nov 5, 2008. Later, he was remanded in judicial custody.

The prosecution said that on July 25, 2008 the police had received information regarding the presence of Kamran Tessori, Mohammad Imran Tessori and Mohammad Khalid Siddiqui on the Hawkesbay beach.

The suspects were wanted in a case (FIR 07/2008) registered in Badin district. A team of Docks police station raided the place at Hawkesbay. The suspects were in a car and were alleged to have opened fire on police when asked to stop the vehicle. The police said that after opening fire, the three managed to escape.

The police registered a case (FIR 112/08) on behalf of the state against the suspects under Section 324 and 353/34 of the Pakistan Penal Code at Docks police station. Later, the police claimed that they recovered illegal weapons and narcotics on a lead given by Kamran Tessori during the interrogation. The police registered four cases against the suspect under the Arms Ordinance, the Prohibition of Hadd Ordinance and the Control of Narcotic Substances Act 1997 at Preedy and Gizri police stations.

Earlier, the police had taken Kamran Tessori into custody for his alleged involvement in a land scam pertaining to the proposed Gold City project in interior of Sindh and for which the former chief minister, Dr Arbab Ghulam Rahim, had allotted him around 80 acres of land for industrial purposes. The land was originally part of a historical graveyard. However, the police claimed that on June 18, 2008 Tessori had managed to escape from police custody when he was shifted to Badin.

Meanwhile, the court directed the jail authorities to submit a report till Tuesday with regard to the medical check-up of the accused.

On the previous hearing, the court had allowed the suspect's application seeking medical treatment. The judge directed the jail authorities to shift the accused in a hospital. However, the jail superintendent did not submit the compliance report.On Monday, the suspect also filed an application in court stating that despite the court's order the jail authorities were not providing him proper healthcare and medicines.

Traders' killing case

Judicial Magistrate (east) Inam Ali Kalhoro remanded the suspended SHO of the Anti-Car Lifting Cell (ACLC) and his subordinate in judicial custody till Jan 25 in a case relating to the murder of four traders from Balochistan in an alleged encounter on Khalid bin Waleed Road.

According to the prosecution, four officials of the ACLC had allegedly killed the four traders in the limits of Ferozabad police station around midnight on Dec 31. Inspector Malik Irshad and constable Zafar were arrested on Jan 11 and 10, respectively, but the other two suspects were still at large, it stated.

A case was registered against the ACLC team under Section 302/34 of the Pakistan Penal Code on the complaint of Haji Lala Khan, the father of one of the four victims, after the Supreme Court ordered the police to register a case under Section 302 of the PPC against the accused policemen.

Earlier, the police had registered a case under Section 319 (Qatl-i-Khata) of the PPC against the police officials after an inquiry into the killing of the four traders concluded that the incident was the outcome of criminal negligence of the police party.