KARACHI: A model court on Thursday awarded death sentence to an accused in a case pertaining to the rape and murder of four persons.

According to the prosecution, the bodies of Khalid Haroon, his wife Aneela, their daughter and son Danish were found inside their flat in the Chapel Beach Luxury apartments on Sept 8, 2010. It further alleged that all the victims were hit on the head with a blunt instrument.

During the course of investigation, the police arrested the accused Iftikhar Ahmed, alias Badshah, who was a friend of Danish and had been living with the family as an “adopted” child, it added.

State prosecutor Atif Sitai argued that the accused had disclosed that he wanted to marry Mr Haroon’s daughter, a student in her early 20s, but the family refused and also kicked him out of the house.

He further argued that later the accused apologised and started living with the family, adding that he subjected the girl to sexual assault and then killed her along with her parents and brother while they were asleep.

Mr Sitai said some relatives had visited the family to give Eid gifts to the slain girl early in the evening and the accused was also seen living in the house. He argued that enough evidence was available on record to connect the accused with the commission of the offences, including rape and murder of the four people, and pleaded to punish him strictly in accordance with the law.

The accused claimed his innocence in his statement recorded under Section 342 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC). Defence counsel Gul Hassan Khaskheli contended that his client had been framed in the case and pleaded to acquit him of the charges.

A case was registered under Sections 302 (premeditated murder), 397 (robbery or dacoity, with attempt to cause death or grievous hurt) and 376 (punishment for rape) of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) at the Boat Basin police station on a complaint of the victim’s brother Riaz Mahmood.

Three jailed for life for killing lawyer

The same court sentenced three men to life imprisonment for murdering a lawyer.

Naveed John Bhatti, an employee of the victim, and two brothers, Sajid and Zahid, were found guilty of killing Advocate Mohammad Murtaza Chinoy when he resisted a robbery attempt at his Clifton office in August 2011.

Additional District and Sessions judge Kamran Atta Soomro of the model criminal trial court (South) pronounced the verdict reserved after recording the evidence and final arguments from the prosecution and defence sides.

The court also imposed a fine of Rs100,000 each on the three men, and in case of non-payment they would have to suffer an additional year in prison.

The accused were also held accountable for robbing the deceased and awarded seven years in prison with another fine of Rs100,000 each and if they defaulted they would have to spend one more year in jail.

Both sentences would run concurrently. The court also extended the benefit of Section 382-B (period of detention to be considered while awarding sentence of imprisonment) of the CrPC to them.

According to the prosecution, the accused killed the victim during a robbery attempt on Aug 25 at his Zamzama office, and police arrested them a week after the incident and seized the victim’s laptop and savings certificates worth Rs2 million and a pistol from them.

A case was registered under Sections 302 (premeditated murder) 392 (punishment for robbery) and 34 (common intention) of the PPC at the Clifton police station. A sessions court had sentenced them to life imprisonment in March 2014 in the case, but the accused had challenged their sentences in the Sindh High Court, which had remanded the case back for retrial.

State prosecutor Atif Sitai argued that the accused in their confessional statements admitted that Naveed and an absconder, Farooq, were the victim’s employees and they had planned to rob him and for that purpose they got the assistance of Sajid and Zahid by offering them money. However, the victim put up resistance and they opened fire on him, he added.

Murderer gets death

A model court awarded death sentence to an accused for killing his mother-in-law over a family dispute in 2011.

Additional District and Sessions judge Haleem Ahmed of the model criminal trial court (East) pronounced the verdict after recording the evidence and final arguments from both sides.

The judge also ordered the accused Aslam to pay Rs500,000 compensation to the victim’s legal heirs.

The court also awarded him seven-year imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs100,000 for attempting to murder and injuring the victim’s daughter Khursheeda Bibi and son Rashid Ali.

A case was registered under Section 302 (premeditated murder) and 324 (attempt to commit qatl-i-amd) of the PPC on a complaint of victim’s brother Shaukat Ali at the Khokhrapar police station.

Published in Dawn, May 17th, 2019