KARACHI: A sessions court handed down a total of 43-year imprisonment to two muggers for killing an ex-serviceman and wounding his son during an armed robbery at a shop in Malir in 2022.

Additional District and Sessions Judge (East) Aziz ur Rehman Junejo found Atif and Sajjad Muhammad guilty of killing Muhammad Saleem Akhter, a retired navy officer.

The court highlighted mitigating circumstances for not awarding the death penalty or life imprisonment.

It noted that the investigating officer had failed to record the confessional statements of the convicts before a magistrate. He did not collect additional corroborative evidence, such as the call data records of the accused or the geo-fencing report of the crime scene, it added.

The court observed that the IO was duty-bound to take all necessary steps to gather the best possible evidence during the investigation to uncover the truth. However, it added that the IO “deliberately” avoided doing so. The benefit of this failure, the court noted, contributed to the mitigating circumstances, ultimately resulting in a lesser sentence for the accused.

Published in Dawn, July 27th, 2025