The only son of noted artist Ismail Gulgee appeared before a district and sessions court on Saturday and recorded his statement as a prosecution witness since he was the complainant in the 2007 murder case of his father, mother and their maidservant.

The complainant, Amin Gulgee, appeared before District and Sessions Judge (south) Fahim Ahmed Siddiqui.

He deposed that he was living in an adjoining portion of his parents’ house, but he had not visited them due to his busy schedule and it was only on Dec 19, 2007 when he realised that for the past five days the gate of his parents’ house had been locked and their car not parked inside.

He testified that he phoned his parents, but there was no response and then he entered the house from his portion, broke the lock and saw the bodies of his father, mother and their housemaid.

He said that he informed the police about the incident and later a case was registered on his complaint.

During the cross-examination, the defence counsel, Mushtaq Ahmed and Ashfaq Rafiq Janjua, asked the complainant if he was behind the murder of his parents as they were unhappy with him over his ‘objectionable activities’. He replied in the negative.

Replying to another question, he said that it was correct to suggest that the investigation officer had not recorded his statement under Section 161 of the criminal procedure code.

According to the prosecution, Gulgee, his wife, Zareen Gulgee, and their maid, Asiya, were found strangled to death in their house within the remit of the Boat Basin police station on December 19, 2007.

When the bodies were found they were thought to have lain there for three days while the driver, Akram Ali, and a servant, Anwar, had gone missing along with a car belonging to the deceased.

It added that the driver and the servant were arrested on Feb 16, 2008 in a hotel near the cantonment railway station and during interrogation they confessed to having killed the three persons including the renowned artist in order to commit a robbery. The police also claimed to have recovered a suitcase and precious paintings of the deceased artist from the possession of the accused. Later, they were sent to jail.

The police registered a case (FIR 490/07) at the Boat Basin police station under Section 302 (premeditated murder) and 34 (common intention) of the Pakistan Penal Code on the complaint of the deceased’s son.

{Source: AP}