KARACHI: An antiterrorism court has sentenced an extortionist to serve five-year rigorous imprisonment in jail.

The convict — Muhammad Nawaz, alias Nawazi — was found guilty of committing an offence punishable under Section 386 (extortion) of the Pakistan Penal Code and also ordered to pay a fine of Rs50,000. On default, he will have to undergo six-month simple imprisonment.

The ATC-I judge, who conducted the trial in the judicial complex inside the central prison, pronounced his judgement reserved after recording evidence and final arguments from both sides.

The judge observed in his order that the prosecution had successfully proved the charge against the accused and subsequently handed down sentence and also imposed a fine on him. However, the accused was given the benefit of the Section 382(b) of the criminal procedure code.

The Section 382(b) says: “Period of detention to be considered while awarding sentence of imprisonment.”

The court remanded the accused, who was present in the court, to the prison with the conviction warrant to serve out the remaining period of his sentence.

According to the prosecution, Chaudhry Waheed Waqas Gujjar had registered a First Information Report (FIR) on February 10, 2014 stating that he was running a bakery — United Bakery — situated in Waqas Market, Gulshan-i-Iqbal. The complainant said a man, Muhammad Nawaz, alias Nawazi, used to come to his shop with his accomplices and demanded protection money.

On Jan 19, 2014 the accused came to Gujjar’s shop and asked him to pay Rs1 million protection money and took out a pistol and threatened to kill him and his children when he was told that such a huge amount of money could not be paid to him, the prosecution added.

A case under sections 386 (extortion by putting a person in fear of death or grievous hurt) and 506-B (punishment for criminal intimidation) of the Pakistan Penal Code read with Section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997 was registered at the Gulshan-i-Iqbal police station.

Subsequently, investigating officer Inspector Muhammad Farid-ud-Din initiated investigation, but failed to track down the accused. Therefore, he submitted a progress report before the court within the stipulated time showing all of suspects as absconders.

After remaining in hiding for nearly three years, absconding accused Muhammad Nawaz surrendered himself before the trial court on July 25, 2017. Therefore, the trial court granted him bail and also directed him to join the investigation.

Meanwhile, the court’s office informed investigating officer Farid-ud-Din that the absconding accused had surrendered before the court. Later, the court indicted the accused. But he pleaded not guilty and opted to contest the trial. During the trial, the accused denied the allegations.

The defence counsel, Rana Muhammad Arshad, contended that the police had falsely framed Muhammad Nawaz in the case despite he had nothing to do with the offences levelled against him.

He also claimed that there were discrepancies in the evidence the prosecution claimed to have produced against the accused and pleaded to acquit him of the charges. On the other hand, the prosecution examined five witnesses to prove its case against him.

The special public prosecutor Muhammad Noonari argued that there was ample evidence to connect the role of the detained accused with the commission of the offences since the statements of the witnesses fully corroborated the ocular evidence.

Published in Dawn, September 21st, 2018