LAHORE: A sessions court on Friday acquitted a man of kidnap-cum-murder of Rajvinder Kaur, a Canadian-Indian businesswoman.

Additional District and Sessions Judge Irfan Basra exonerated Hafiz Shahzad giving him the benefit of the doubt as the prosecution failed to establish the charges against him.

Sarwar Road police had registered a case against two nominated and some unidentified accused and also made arrests. Sikandar Singh Gill, the father of the victim, was the complainant.

Mr Gill had stated that his daughter reached Lahore Airport from Canada on Aug 25, 2012 and also confirmed her arrival to the family over telephone. He said when she reached Lahore, she had Canadian passport, cash, a laptop, gold ornaments and other valuables.

He said Kaur was in regular contact with Shahid Ghazanfar alias Karishna Roy, Hafiz Shahzad and others. The complainant alleged that Ghazanfar in connivance with his accomplices kidnapped his daughter to rob her of money and later kill her.

Gill’s counsel Aftab Ahmad Bajwa said the accused had made a confession before the magistrate that they had killed Kaur over monetary matter and thrown her body into Khanpur canal on Sheikhupura Road the day she reached Lahore. He said Roy was facing trial in Canada. The lawyer said the acquittal would be challenged before the high court.

Published in Dawn, December 9th, 2017