PESHAWAR, April 26: An additional district and sessions judge, Khwaja Wajihuddin, ordered arrest of four persons, including a union councillor and a woman, for deceiving the court in a murder case on Saturday.

The four accused had arranged a compromise in a murder case and concealed the fact from the court about the presence of six children of the deceased. They had given wrong facts about the legal heirs of the deceased.

Sakhawat Khan, son of the deceased Rehman Gul, informed the court on Saturday that his mother, Niaz Parwara, had entered into a compromise with his father’s killer, Minhaj, and had not informed him and his five other siblings.

He claimed that a jirga was constituted and a union councillor, Muhammad Raheem, and another member, Musawar Khan, arranged a compromise between the killer, who is also the son-in-law of the deceased, and Ms Niaz Parwara, but had not included the six children of the deceased in the agreement.

Under the Qisas and Diyat law, a killer could be forgiven by legal heirs of a deceased.

The accused-killer, Minhaj, had killed Rehman Gul on Feb 27, 2002, over a domestic dispute. The additional district and sessions judge, Khwaja Wajihuddin, has been conducting trial of the accused, who was earlier allowed pre-arrest bail by the court.

The defendant had informed the court that a compromise had taken place between the legal heirs of the deceased and the accused on the basis of which he should be acquitted.

His counsel claimed that under the law, murder is a compoundable offence and the wali (legal heir) of a deceased could forgive the killer. The defendant claimed that the deceased had four legal heirs and they had forgiven him.

The son of the deceased claimed that he had in fact ten legal heirs, and not four, and the accused and other three persons had deceived the court.