KARACHI, Aug 12: An additional district and sessions judge sentenced an assistant sub-inspector of police to life imprisonment in a murder case on Tuesday.

The court found ASI Tariq Shah guilty of killing Abdul Razzaq on Feb 14, 2003 in Korangi. The convict was posted at the Korangi police station.

The additional district and sessions judge I, east, Abdul Rehman Bhatti, who was conducting the trial, pronounced the verdict after recording the final arguments from both sides.

The judge also imposed a fine of Rs50,000 on the convict. In case of non-payment of the fine, the convict will have to undergo an additional six months imprisonment. Besides, he was directed to pay Rs100,000 to the family of the deceased as compensation.

The court acquitted co-accused Aijaz Shah giving him the benefit of the doubt and stating that the evidence against him was not sufficient to confirm his involvement.

The judgment said that the prosecution had successfully proved its case against Tariq Shah, adding that the involvement of co-accused Aijaz Shah was doubtful in the case.

A case (FIR 67/03) was registered under Section 302 of the Pakistan Penal Code against the accused at the Korangi police station on the complaint of Javed Iqbal Malik.

According to the prosecution, Tariq Shah and his friend, Aijaz Shah, received Abdul Razzaq, a relative of a common friend of theirs, at Karachi airport on his arrival from Austria on Feb 14, 2003 and took him to the former’s house in Korangi. Later they allegedly shot him dead in order to seize his foreign currency, and threw the body at a deserted place in Zaman Town.

The police on information found the body and arrested the accused a day after the incident.

The prosecution said the deceased had asked one of the accused to have his foreign currency exchanged in rupees at the airport. Thereafter both accused planned to grab the deceased’s wealth and for this purpose they killed him, the prosecution said, adding that the police recovered the foreign currency from the accused.

In the final arguments, the defence counsel submitted that the prosecution did not provide enough evidence to the court to prove its case against the accused, adding that his clients were innocent and falsely implicated in the case.

He pleaded for their acquittal. However, the prosecutor argued that the prosecution had successfully proved its case by providing solid and sufficient evidence against both accused and requested the court to award them the death penalty.

Meanwhile, an additional district and sessions judge, central, deferred on Tuesday the verdict till Aug 30 in a 14-year-old boy’s murder case.

Earlier, judge Nelofer Shahnawaz had reserved the judgment for Tuesday after recording final arguments from both sides. However, the order was deferred since the judge was busy with the hearing of other cases.

The prosecution said Mohammad Younus, son of Mohammad Darvesh, had stabbed 14-year-old Mohammad Ghayas, son of Mohammad Saleem, in Liaquatabad after an exchange of hot words with him in the Super Market police limits on Aug 20, 2001.

The wounded boy could not survive though he was rushed to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital. The accused was booked under Section 302 of the Pakistan Penal Code in the case (FIR 84/01) at the Super Market police station.