KARACHI, June 8 A man convicted for mobile phone snatching was released when he entered a guilty plea because the length of his stay in prison as an undertail exceeded the sentence handed down by a sessions court on Monday.

Additional District and Sessions Judge (south) Nizar Ali Khawaja sentenced the man, Azeem Khan, to four years in prison in a 2005 cellphone snatching case.

The court imposed a fine of Rs5,000 on the convict and in case of default he would have to undergo an additional one-month imprisonment.

Taking the mitigation plea, the public prosecutor, Abdul Maroof, requested the court to give lesser punishment to the accused since he pleaded guilty.

While extending the benefit of Section 382-B (period of detention to be considered while awarding sentence of imprisonment) of the criminal procedure code to the convict, the court issued his release order because he has already completed his four-year sentence as an undertrial.

According to the prosecution, accused Azeem Khan along with his absconding accomplice snatched a mobile phone from complainant Mohammad Khalil on March 23, 2005 in the remit of the Boat Basin police station. He was arrested and a case (FIR109/05) was registered against him under Section 392 (punishment for robbery) of the Pakistan Penal Code at the Boat Basin police station.

Two robbers jailed for four years

The same court sentenced two men, Shaukat and Kashif, to four years in prison in a 2006 robbery case after they entered a guilty plea.

The court imposed a fine of Rs5,000 on each convict and in case of default they would have to undergo an additional one-month imprisonment.

The public prosecutor requested the court to give lenient punishment since they had pleaded guilty.

Both the accused had deprived Salman Shah of cash and other valuables on March 27, 2006 in the jurisdiction of the Baghdadi police station. They were arrested red-handed while their other accomplices had managed to escape.

A case (FIR No 122/06) was registered against the accused on the complaint of victim Salman Shah under Section 395 (punishment for dacoity) of the Pakistan Penal Code.

The court extended the benefit of Section 382-B of the CrPC to the convicts and remanded them back to the prison to serve the remainder of their sentence.

Suspected militant remanded

A judicial magistrate (east) on Monday remanded a suspected militant in CID police custody till June 10 in a case relating to possession of explosive substances and illicit weapons.

The Sindh CID arrested the suspect, Mohammad Naeem Rehmani, on June 6 and claimed that he was a close aide of Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan chief Baitullah Mehsud. The police also claimed to have recovered explosives and unlicensed weapons from his possession.

The suspect was produced before Judicial Magistrate Mushtari Khanum and the investigation officer sought his physical remand for further interrogation. However, the suspect's counsel prayed to the court to remand his client in judicial custody.

After hearing both sides, the court remanded the suspect in CID police custody till June 10 and directed the IO to produce the suspect on the next hearing along with the case diary.

According to the report submitted by the IO, the CID arrested the suspect in Jinnah Venue Society in the remit of the Al-Falah police station on June 6 while his accomplice, Abdul Qadir, managed to escape.

It added that suicide jackets, hand grenades and Kalashnikovs were recovered from his possession.

Two cases (FIR 176/09 and 177/09) were registered at the CID police station under Sections 4, 5 and 6 of the Explosive Substances Act, 1908 and 13-D of the Pakistan Arms Ordinance, 1965 on the complaint of Sub-Inspector Arif Hussain.