November 16, 2008	Sunday	Ziqa'ad 17, 1429

KARACHI, Nov 15: A district and sessions judge acquitted on Thursday an accused in the Justice Nizam murder case.

The judge allowed the acquittal application of Bilal Shaikh and observed that the prosecution did not produce ample evidence to link him with the alleged offence and there was no probability of conviction.

However, the court rejected the acquittal application of another accused, Babar Sindhu.

Justice Nizam Ahmed of the Sindh High Court and his son, Nadeem Ahmed, a lawyer, were shot dead in an attack on June 10, 1996 in front of their PECHS residence.

Akhtar Javed Pirzada, Bilal Shaikh and Babar Sindhu were facing charges of killing the father and the son.

District and sessions judge Zaheeruddin S. Leghari pronounced the verdict after recording final arguments from both sides.

Bilal Shaikh and Babar Sindhu, through their counsel, had moved applications under Section 249-A of the Criminal Procedure Code to the court arguing that the prosecution had failed to produce any solid evidence against them over the past 12 years, and pleaded for their acquittal.

The special public prosecutor, Naimat Ali Randhawa, did not oppose the application.

The complainant, retired Group Captain Sikandar, brother-in-law of Justice Nizam Ahmed, had lodged an FIR (357/96) at the Ferozabad police station under Section 302/34 of the Pakistan Penal Code.

The killings were attributed to a dispute over a prized plot near Awami Markaz.