HYDERABAD: The Model Criminal Trial Court Judge-I, Tasawar Ali Rajput, on Tuesday awarded death sentence to Shah Lateef, the adopted son of noted Sindhi poet Dr Akash Ansari, in the latter’s murder case.

Dr Allah Bux alias Akash Anari was murdered on Feb 15, 2025 with multiple strokes of a knife in a room of his home, located within the limits of the Bhitai Nagar police station, Hyderabad.

According to the prosecution, the accused had torched the body after killing Dr Ansari and then raised a hue and cry. He then made an emergency call to the Rescue-1122 stating that a fire had erupted in their residence.

While pronouncing the judgement, the judge noted that nothing was brought on court’s record for awarding a lesser punishment.

The convict has also been ordered to pay a fine / compensation of Rs200,000 to the legal heirs of the victim. He has been allowed right to appeal, to be filed within 30 days of the pronouncement of the judgement.

The court noted that it examined Shah Lateef’s mother Ms Haleema as defence witness. It is a settled law that evidence of a defence witness who is closely related to the accused must be examined with extraordinary care and caution, the court said. It added that a witness is naturally inclined to shield the accused from criminal liability. The testimony of such a witness could not be accepted on its face value unless it inspired confidence and is supported by independent and trustworthy evidence. After careful evaluation of the statement, she being the mother of the accused, wants to save him. She brought up the accused since his childhood. Her natural inclination to protect her son could not be ignored while appreciating the evidence, the court remarked.

The defence witness has not claimed to be an eyewitness to the occurrence, rather, her deposition mainly revolves around allegations of false implication, alleged pressure by complainant and her belief in innocence of the accused.

Admittedly, she was not present in the home [where the incident took place]. She was present at her home in Badin district which is far away from the place of incident, the court observed.

The judge pronounced his judgment on Tuesday after completing the trial on Jan 16. The judgement said that the prosecution successfully proved its case under Sections 302, 201, 511 and 436 of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) and Sections 6 & 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA), 1997.

According to the Additional District Public Prosecutor, Mujeeb Qadir Memon, the judgement was announced on Tuesday (Jan 27). Advocate Tariq Shah represented the complainant and Advocate Sohail Rajput appeared on behalf of the accused.

Published in Dawn, January 28th, 2026