Shahid Masood made baseless claims in Zainab murder case: FIA

ISLAMABAD: Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) in its report submitted to the Supreme Court of Pakistan on Thursday declared television anchor Dr. Shahid Masood’s allegations baseless in the Zainab rape and murder case, ARY News reported.

In the report, the investigating agency has said that Dr Masood couldn’t establish the veracity of his claims.

Masood had claimed the prime accused in Zainab murder case Imran Ali owned foreign currency accounts and insisted that a whole gang was behind the man.

He also claimed that a highly influential political figure was either backing or involved in the child pornography racket working in Kasur, a group which had been making unethical videos of children and then uploads it on dark web.

The Supreme Court of Pakistan, during a hearing of the Zainab murder case, had sought details of Imran Ali’s “foreign currency accounts” and names of those influential figures he blamed of patronizing the child pornography ring in Kasur, which he did.

Subsequently, a Joint Investigation Team (JIT), headed by FIA officials, was also formed to investigate the allegations under the light of the “evidence” provided by the journalist.

However, later it was revealed that Masood’s allegations were completely baseless, and a mischievous attempt to distract from the original investigation.

In a press conference in January, Punjab government spokesman Malik Ahmed Khan said that the anchorperson a notice was sent to anchor Shahid Masood to appear before the JIT formed by the Punjab government, but he did not turn up and no contact could be established with him.

“The anchor did not appear before the JIT and now his mobile phone is switched off,” he then said.

The spokesperson also said that the documents submitted by Dr. Shahid Masood were unverified and bogus. This had been proved by the State Bank of Pakistan as it didn’t find bank accounts in the name of the main suspect in Zainab murder case, the Punjab government spokesperson further said.