KARACHI, April 4: An anti-terrorism court sentenced on Tuesday five workers of the banned Lashkar-i-Jhangvi to death in the prisoners’ van firing case. Judge Haq Nawaz Baloch of the ATC-5 awarded death penalty to Mohammed Faisal alias Faisal Pehalwan, Waseem Sabir, Mazhar Hussain, Mohammed Tassaduq and Muzammil Hussain for killing a constable and an under-trial prisoner during an attack on a prisoners’ van.
The judge also ordered the LJ men to pay Rs 100,000 each as compensation to the legal heirs of two victims. The defaulter on the payment would have to undergo an additional one-year term of simple imprisonment, the judge ordered.
The five accused were prosecuted for attacking the prison van on Feb 28, 2002 near Bohrapir.
The LJ men opened fire on the van which was carrying some under-trial sectarian workers to the Central Prison after producing them in the city courts. Police constable Mohammed Shakil and an under-trial prisoner, Saqib son of Meher Din, were killed in the attack. A dozen other UTPs were also injured in the incident.
The judge sentenced the five accused to suffer a 10-year term for injuring UTPs during the attack. A fine of Rs10,000 each was also imposed on the convicts, who will have to undergo an additional six-month term in case of default on payment.
The LJ men were also handed down another two-year term and a fine of Rs10,000 each under Section 225 of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC).
The judge ordered that the defaulter on the payment would have to undergo an additional one-month term.
The prosecution, represented by special public prosecutor Mazhar Qayyum examined in all 20 prosecution witnesses, who also included five eye-witnesses to the incident.
MURDER CASE: An anti-terrorism court put off the hearing of a kidnapping and murder case of an 18-year-old man after recording the statement of a court witness.
Judge Syed Saghir Hussain Zaidi of the ATC-3 fixed Wednesday for the next hearing after the statement of Abdul Jalil.
The judge also inspected the place where the family members had handed over the ransom to the kidnappers.
Mehboob Ali, a cloth merchant, was kidnapped for ransom allegedly by his relatives who slaughtered him even after receiving money for his release from his family.
The accused allegedly took Mehboob to an under-construction bungalow in Garden East where they slaughtered the trussed up victim. Sensing some suspicious activity, a resident of the vicinity called police emergency number 15.
Subsequently, Soldier Bazaar police reached the spot around 7:15am and they shifted the body to hospital where the victim remained unknown. A murder case was registered against unknown culprits.
The family came to know about the killing of the young man a newspaper. Later, they told the police about the kidnapping episode.
The Soldier police arrested accused Aurangzeb on September 29 near Slaughter House Road in Baghdadi on a tip-off. Uzma, Jahanzeb and Mohammed Arif have been declared absconders as they remained untraceable.
ACQUITTED: An accountability court acquitted six accused persons in a corruption case.
Judge Hasan Feroze of the AC-2 exonerated Mohammed Sulemna, Shahzad, Shaikh Murtaza, Mohammed Sabir, Maqsood Ahmed and Mohammed Ansaar from corruption charges on their acquittal plea filed under Section 265-K of the CrPC.
The judge, however, rejected the acquittal plea of two principal accused Anzaarul Haq and Mohammad Akbar Khan.
The principal accused were arrested for defrauding people of Rs40 million in 2005.
According to prosecution, the two accused fleeced the money by booking motorcycles at a low price. They allegedly closed down their outlet after swindling money from intending buyers.
It was alleged that they booked motorcycles at a price of Rs38,000, while the original price was Rs40,000.
