Liquor case: Sharjeel’s blood sample sent to laboratory for test

KARACHI: A day after the court sent three suspects to prison over recovery of liquor bottles from the hospital, the blood sample of PPP leader in spotlight, Sharjeel Memon, are in the laboratory to determine whether the ex-minister consumer alcohol at the health centre.

On September 1, Chief Justice of Pakistan Mian Saqib Nisar paid a surprise visit to Ziauddin Hospital where he found three bottles of liquor in the room of the incarcerated PPP leader.

Subsequently, Memon was shifted to Central Jail, Karachi and a First Information Report (FIR) was registered against him.

The investigation team has started to collect evidence. It has got hold of closed circuit television (CCTV) footage and records of Sharjeel’s visitors at the hospital.

The Boat Basin police registered the case against Memon, his driver and two servants under Section 4 (possessing or owing intoxicant) of the Prohibition (Enforcement of Hadd) Order. 1979.

SSP South Omar Shahid Hamid had told media that bottles of liquor and other things were recovered from Memon’s room. They all will be sent to a forensic lab for chemical examination, he added.

He said the jail authorities will have to explain as to how these things got into the room. Hamid said CCTV footage and other evidence have been collected and added it was the responsibility of security guard to check the people visiting Sharjeel Memon.

It was reported that the bottles of alcohol seized from the PPP leader’s room were expensive and of foreign origin.

The Section 4 reads: “Whoever owns, possesses or keeps in his custody any intoxicant shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term, which may extend to two years, or with whipping not exceeding thirty stripes, and shall also be liable to fine.”