A report submitted to the Supreme Court on Thursday regarding television anchor Dr Shahid Masood’s claims about 6-year-old Zainab’s killer states that all 18 of the revelations made by Masood were false and baseless.
The anchorperson had claimed during a late night show that Zainab’s rapist and murderer, Imran Ali, was a member of a pornography gang, which also includes a Punjab minister. During earlier hearings of the case, Masood had also told the court that the suspect has 37 foreign accounts.
His claims about the bank accounts, however, were rejected by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) in its report to the joint investigation team (JIT) that was formed earlier by the Punjab government to probe the rape and murder of Zainab.
A JIT, separately formed by the SC to investigate Masood’s claims, said in the report submitted to court today that Masood was unable to support any of his claims with evidence.
The report said that Masood’s allegations regarding the killer belonging to an international ring connected to child pornography are false and that there is no evidence regarding the existence of any international bank accounts in Ali’s name.
“The convict is a poor man and there is no evidence of any international bank accounts in his name,” the report said, also ruling out any influential politician backing Imran Ali.
The JIT report also said that Masood’s claim that someone would try to prove Ali to be clinically insane during trial was also false.
“Shahid Masood has failed to substantiate his claims with proof,” the JIT said.
While hearing the case earlier, the chief justice had warned Masood of dire consequences if his claims proved to be false.
“If your news turns out to be untrue, [then] you cannot even imagine what will happen,” the chief justice had warned the TV anchor.
Source: Dawn
