KARACHI: A sessions court has awarded the death sentence to a man for murdering the husband of his former wife by stabbing him to death outside a hair salon over a personal enmity in 2024.

Additional District and Sessions Judge (East) Aziz ur Rehman Junejo found Muhammad Riaz, alias Raju, guilty of killing Muhammad Adil — husband of his ex-wife — and sentenced him to be hanged by the neck till his dead.

The court also directed him to pay Rs500,000 to the legal heirs as compensation, otherwise he would serve additional imprisonment.

According to state prosecutor Pervez Ahmed Qureshi, the complainant stated that he owned a hairdressing salon near Old Sabzi Mandi, where his nephew — the deceased — used to work. On the day of the incident, he added, the accused arrived armed with a knife, attacked his nephew on the upper part of the body. He succumbed to his injuries.

The accused, who managed to flee from the crime scene, was apprehended by police and they also recovered the crime weapon.

In its detailed verdict, the court observed that the presence of accused at the place of the incident was established through evidence of witnesses.

“Since the accused and the deceased were known to each other as the deceased contracting marriage with ex-wife of the accused therefore, identity of accused was not disputed. The accused even did not challenge the factum of injuries of the deceased suffered from sharp edged weapon,” it added.

The court also noted that, as per the confession of the accused before the magistrate and the police, the motive behind the offence was that his ex-wife had contracted a second marriage with the deceased.

During the trial, the accused denied the allegation and pleaded innocence; however, the court rejected his plea and noted that he failed to shake the credibility of the prosecution witnesses or create any doubt in the prosecution’s case.

“The witnesses account furnish in natural manner which is worthy of credit confidence inspiring. They have no enmity with accused to falsely implicate him,” the court observed.

Published in Dawn, January 30th, 2026