PESHAWAR, June 5: An anti-terrorism court here on Wednesday acquitted four accused, suspected to be members of a banned sectarian group, in the murder case of Additional Inspector General (AIG) of traffic police, Farooq Haider, after the prosecution withdrew from the case.

The court, presided over by Akhtar Zareef Khan, accepted the plea of Special Prosecutor Sher Mohammad, under Section 494 of the Criminal Procedure Code, and allowed the prosecution to withdraw from the case. The prosecution claimed that there was no evidence against the four accused — Mumtaz Ali, Ijaz, Saeedullah and Hazrat Khan — and they would not be able to prove case against them.

Farooq Haider was killed in October 1999, by some unidentified people when he came out of his residence in Dabgari area while going for office. The complainant in the case was Shahid Imdad, brother of the deceased, but he had not charged any individual in the FIR, stating that he was inside his residence and had not seen the killers.

The trial was in the final stages and the court had examined 14 witnesses.

The prosecution claimed that the investigation in the case was conducted very poorly by the police due to lack of interest of the complainant party.

Abdul Samad Khan advocate, who appeared for the defence, said that after withdrawal of the prosecution from the case the accused should be acquitted.

SENTENCE SET ASIDE: A two-member bench of the Peshawar High Court on Wednesday set aside death sentence awarded to an appellant by the anti-terrorism court in the famous murder case of dental surgeon Jawed Iqbal and remanded the case back to the trial court for re-trial.