Supreme Court dismisses Rao Anwar's plea for removal of name from ECL

ISLAMABAD: A Supreme Court bench on Wednesday dismissed a petition of former SSP Malir Rao Anwar for removal of his name from the exit control list (ECL), ARY News reported.

A bench of the apex court headed by Justice Ijazul Ahsan, while dismissing the plea told his lawyer to go to the concerned forum for removal of the name of his client from the ECL.

The court also advised the counsel to file a new petition for relief.

Earlier, Rao Anwar’s lawyer pleaded that the case of his client was in pending at the trial court, which has also given him bail. “He is regularly appearing in the court in each hearing of the case”.

Justice Ijazul Ahsan remarked that the ex-police officer’s name has been put in the ECL till further orders.

Rao Anwar, who received much media attention after becoming a prime suspect in the murder case of 27-year-old Naqeebullah Mahsud from South Waziristan, had approached the top court, seeking removal of his name from the ECL.

The Supreme Court had back in 2019 also turned down a petition by Anwar, seeking removal of his name from the Exit Control List.

Naqeebullah murder case

On March 25 last year, the anti-terrorism court (ATC) had indicted former Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Rao Anwar and others in Naqeebullah Mehsud murder case.

Anwar is accused of being involved in the murder of Naqeebullah Mehsud and three others in a staged police encounter in Karachi.

Mehsud was killed on January 13, 2018, in Karachi during a fake encounter allegedly staged by Rao Anwar, the senior superintendent of police of Karachi’s Malir district.