KARACHI, Oct 27: An anti-terrorism court acquitted on Saturday all the 12 accused who were facing a trial in the case of an assistant sub-inspector’s murder.

ASI Khalid Jamil was shot dead in the Pak Colony police limits on Aug 28, 2006 during a demonstration held in protest against the killing of Jamhoori Watan Party chief Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti following a military operation in Balochistan.

Judge Abdul Ghafoor Memon of ATC-II, who conducted the trial, after hearing the final arguments from both the sides had reserved his judgment in the case on Oct 24.

According to the court’s verdict, there were contradictions in the statements of the witnesses and no eyewitness was produced to identify the actual persons involved in the murder. Police had also failed to recover any kind of crime weapons from the accused and none of the accused had confessed to their involvement in the crime, the court observed.

All the accused -- Shah Jehan, Illahi Bukhsh, Fida Hussain, Nasir alias Khalifa, Amjad, Nabeel Baloch, Murad Bukhsh, Abdul Wahid, son of Haji Karim, Abdul Wahid (second), Abdul Khaliq, Ghulam Haider, Dad Rehman — were present in the court on Saturday.

Fifteen other accused, including Farooq, Sajid, Sahir Chura and Iqbal Mandela, were declared as absconders in the case.

In the final arguments, defence counsel Ashfaq Rafiq Janjua and Abdul Samad Baloch had argued that the ASI had received a stray bullet fired by some unknown person. Nomination of their clients in the case was illegal, the counsel had said and pleaded for their acquittal.

Special Public Prosecutor Niamat Ali Randhawa had told the court that the accused were arrested on the basis of their participation in the protest demonstration, which meant that they were involved in the murder case.

The court had earlier recorded the statements of several accused in the case. They were arrested under sections 147, 148, 149, 186, 353, 427 and 424 (Q&D) of the Pakistan Penal Code following the registration of an FIR (139/2006).

All the accused were already on bail except Nasir alias Khalifa.