KARACH: An antiterrorism court sentenced on Tuesday a police constable to death in a case pertaining to the murder of a police officer.
The court found constable Nazakat Ali, a security guard of the victim, guilty of killing SHO of the Preedy police station Inspector Agha Asadullah when the SHO with the constable was travelling in his private car near Saddar in April 2013.
The judge of the ATC-III, Syed Shakeel Haider, who conducted a retrial of the case on a high court order, also ordered confiscation of the convict’s property.
The court in its judgement observed that the case stood proved beyond a shadow of a doubt since the ocular and circumstantial evidences were corroborated by the medical, ballistic and other documentary evidences.
However, the court ruled that the sentence was subject to the confirmation of the high court as required under Section 374 of the criminal procedure code.
According to the prosecution, the police officer was driving his private car near Saddar on April 9, 2013 when his guard, who was sitting on the back seat, shot him dead.
The policeman got off the vehicle after committing the offence and restored to firing into the air to give the impression that somebody from outside had killed the SHO, it added.
The prosecution further said that during an inquiry the accused failed to give satisfactory reply, thus he was arrested, adding that as per ballistic report the bullet casings found inside and outside the vehicle of the slain police officer were fired from the sub-machine gun of the accused.
A case was registered under Sections 302 (premeditated murder) of the Pakistan Penal Code read with Section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act at the Preedy police station on the complaint of the deceased’s brother.
The same court had handed down death sentence to the policeman in March 2014.
However, the convict moved the Sindh High Court to challenge the capital punishment.
The SHC remanded back the case to the trial court with the direction to retrial the case from the stage of the statement of the accused.
MBA graduate jailed for seven years in extortion case
An antiterrorism court sentenced on Tuesday a man to seven years in prison in an extortion case.
Vinod Kumar, who possesses an MBA degree from a British university, was found guilty of extorting Rs3 million from a senior executive vice president of an insurance company by putting him in fear of death.
The co-accused, Amir Saeed Channa, was acquitted for lack of evidence.
The ATC-X judge, Abdullah Afzal Khan, also handed down another seven-year imprisonment to Kumar for criminal intimidation and imposed a fine of Rs30,000. In case of default the convict would undergo an additional six-month imprisonment. Both the sentences would run concurrently.
According to the prosecution, the accused had collected Rs3 million protection money from Syed Shahid Hussain between September 2014 and May 2015 by making threatening calls through private numbers using the internet and demanded further Rs1.5 million.
However, the police managed to arrest the accused on June 20 in Saddar. Later, the co-accused was also apprehended.
A case was registered against the suspects under Sections 385 (putting a person in fear of injury in order to commit extortion), 386 (extortion by putting a person in fear of death or grievous hurt), 508-B (criminal intimidation) and 34 (common intention) of the Pakistan Penal Code read with Section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997 on a complaint of the victim at the Kharadar police station.
Remand extended
A judicial magistrate extended on Tuesday physical remand of a suspect in a murder case till July 3.
Ahmed Saeed, aka Bharam, said to be an activist of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, has been booked for allegedly killing Ibrar Ahmed, a worker of the Mohajir Qaumi Movement, in Nabi Bux in 2009.
After the end of his first remand, the police reproduced the suspect and sought extension in his custody for further questioning. The court granted five-day extension.
The suspect, said to be arrested in the United Arab Emirates in March, was detained by Rangers on March 22 for three months.
Following the completion of his detention period, the paramilitary force handed over to the police in the present case.
Published in Dawn, June 29th, 2016