ISLAMABAD: Former prime minister Imran Khan was booked in a murder case in connection with the death of paramilitary personnel who were run over by a speeding vehicle on the Srinagar Highway last week during a protest by the PTI.
With this new case, the PTI founder, already imprisoned in Adiala Jail in different cases, has joined an exclusive club of two — alongside PPP founder Zulfikar Ali Bhutto — as the second ex-PM to be booked for murder.
In November 1974, then-prime minister Z.A. Bhutto was booked in a murder case, which eventually led to his hanging, two years after his government was ousted by military dictator Ziaul Haq in 1977.
The case registered at the Ramna police station against the PTI founder and other leaders includes Section 302 (murder), Section 324 (murder attempt) Section 120B (punishment of criminal conspiracy), Section 114 (abettor present when offence is committed), and other sections of the Pakistan Penal Code, besides terrorism charges.
Police officials, while quoting the FIR, told that at the behest of Imran Khan and other PTI leaders, an unidentified driver of a Land Cruiser rammed into the Rangers’ personnel with the intention to kill them. As a result, three personnel were martyred while two were injured.
Sources in the prosecution department and lawyers, on condition of anonymity, said that it was a case of a road accident, and not murder, and that the FIR should have been registered under Section 322 of the PPC instead of Section 302.
They added that the murder charges could be added to the FIR in light of supplementary statements after the investigation was able to establish that there was concrete evidence that the driver intended to kill the security personnel.
Apparently, the deaths were caused by negligence and reckless driving, they said, claiming that some reports suggested that the driver was under the influence of drugs, and even if it was true then it was still a case of Section 322.
