KARACHI: A sessions court sentenced on Thursday a man to death in a murder case.

Mohammad Idrees was found guilty of killing 18-year-old Mohammad Abdullah over personal enmity in October 2014 in Bilal Colony, Landhi.

The additional district and sessions judge (Malir) Shafi Mohammad Pirzada conducted the trial and read out the conviction order after recording evidence and concluding arguments from both sides.

The court in its verdict observed that an eyewitness and two last seen witnesses have deposed against the accused and their testimonies were corroborated by the other prosecution witnesses and documentary evidence.

The case stood proved beyond shadow of doubt, the court observed and added that since there were no mitigating circumstances and the murder of the young man was committed in a brutal manner, the accused did not deserve any leniency.

However, the court said that the record and proceedings of the case were to be submitted to the high court for confirmation of capital punishment as required under Section 374 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.

According to the prosecution, the accused had gunned down the victim since he was opposing a marriage proposal of the accused for his sister.

‘Knifeman aide’ remanded

The administrative judge of an antiterrorism court remanded on Thursday an alleged accomplice of the ‘knifeman’ in police custody in four more identical cases.

After the end of his first remand in a case pertaining to an attack upon an 18-year-old girl in Gulshan-i-Jamal on Oct 5, police produced Mohammad Shahzad again before the court and sought his custody in four other cases for questioning.

The police claimed that he was a close aide of suspected knifeman M. Waseem, who has been allegedly targeting women in Gulistan-i-Jauhar and Gulshan-i-Iqbal.

The investigating officers contended that the suspect was a friend of the alleged attacker and both belonged to the same village in Sahiwal and he provided cover to Waseem during the attacks.

The court handed over the suspect back to police on four-day physical remand and directed IOs to produce him again at next hearing along with progress reports.

Former KDA chief’s remand extended

An accountability court allowed on Thursday the National Accountability Bureau to keep the custody of former director general of the Karachi Development Authority for eight more days for further investigation.

After the end of his first physical remand, NAB investigating officer produced former KDA chief Syed Nasir Abbas before the court and sought extension of his custody for further questioning.

The defence lawyer opposed the extension and contended that the suspect was unwell and needed proper treatment.

The court, however, granted extension of physical remand of the suspect till Oct 26 and directed NAB to arrange for his health check-up.

NAB has accused the former KDA chief of allegedly making illegal allotments in Gulistan-i-Jauhar.

Published in Dawn, October 20th, 2017