PESHAWAR: A local court on Saturday convicted a man for killing two people and injuring another in Badabher area of Peshawar four years ago and sentenced him to death on two counts with Rs300,000 fine.

Additional district and sessions judge Khalid Khan pronounced that the prosecution had proved its case against the accused, Bukht Munir, of Peshawar’s Gareebabad area, and that the evidence on record linked him to the commission of the crime.

The prosecution had alleged that on Oct 17, 2011, the accused had killed Abdur Rehman and Mubarik Shah after altercation and injured a passer-by.

After completion of arguments by both the sides, the court awarded death sentence to the accused on two counts and fined him Rs200,000.

It also convicted him for injuring a passer-by and sentenced him to 10 years rigorous imprisonment with Rs100,000 fine.

The state prosecutor contended that the witnesses had testified against the accused and that he was caught shortly after the killing.

SUSPECTED SMUGGLER ACQUITTED: The court also acquitted two people charged with smuggling an expensive banned drug, Crystal Methamphetamine, popularly known as ‘Ice’, along with narcotics.

It ruled that the prosecution didn’t prove the charges against the accused, Rehmat Khan and Ilaqa Dar, residents of Khyber Agency and Afghanistan respectively.

The accused were allegedly arrested when they were travelling in a car in the jurisdiction of Agha Mir Jani Shah police station in Peshawar on Mar 15, 2015. The police alleged that one of the accused was possessing two kilogrammes of ‘Ice’, while four kilogrammes of charas was recovered from secret cavities of his car.

The accused were charged under Section 9 of the Control of Narcotics Substance Act.

Mohammad Saeed Khan, lawyer for the accused, said in the ‘recovery memo’, the police alleged that the contraband ‘Ice’ was in possession of Ilaqa Dar, who drove the car, whereas in the subsequent investigation, it was alleged that the drug was recovered from the other accused.

ACCUSED CONVICTED: Additional district and sessions judge Usman Wali has convicted a man for smuggling narcotics and sentenced him to life imprisonment with Rs200,000 fine.

The accused, Zewar Khan, and a co-accused, Nisar, both residents of Bara tehsil, Khyber Agency, were arrested by the officials of Sarband police station and that they had allegedly recovered 22 kilogrammes of charas from the arrested men.

The police alleged that the two were smuggling narcotics from tribal areas to Punjab.

While convicting Zewar Khan, the court acquitted Nisar due to a lack of evidence.

Published in Dawn, November 29th, 2015