Karachi: A medical and forensic experts team assigned to determine the age of the rime suspect in the murder of Shahzeb Khan, on Saturday finalised and sealed its report to be submitted to the trial court on Monday.
Sources said that the team’s findings would officially be disclosed during the court proceedings but the information leaked to the local media said Shahrukh Jatoi, the prime suspect, was an adult as proved by both medical reports and documentation.
Jatoi’s lawyer in the last hearing pleaded in an anti-terrorism court that his client was a minor and thus he might be treated as a juvenile. Jatoi’s being juvenile would result in a lenient punishment if he is held guilty of murder.
Sources said that the six-member team that comprised dentists, forensic experts and senior doctors carried out many medical tests and X-rays that suggested Jatoi had attained puberty.
The team also dug out Jatoi’s educational certificates that belied the age mentioned in his passport. In Jatoi’s passport it was shown that he was born in 1995 whereas his birth and educational certificates proved that he was born in 1993.
While the team was examining evidence of his age, the trial court ordered Jatoi’s custody in juvenile jail but he might be sent to a proper jail after the scheduled hearing on Monday, sources said.
He would also face proper murder charges under the Pakistani penal code and could face capital punishment if found guilty.
Jatoi, the son of an influential landlord and political personality of the country, initially managed to conveniently escape from Pakistan after allegedly committing the murder of Khan, a 20-year man .
He was fetched by Pakistani authorities after the Supreme Court of Pakistan took notice of the murder case that was being neglected by the local police because of Jatoi’s connections in official circles.
Three other accomplices of Jatoi face murder charges.
