KARACHI, March 11: Justice Mohammed Ashraf Leghari of the Sindh High Court on Tuesday set aside the conviction awarded to an accused/appellant, Imam Bux, former in charge of a store of the Utility Stores Corporation at Ranipur in District Sukkur.

The accused/appellant was sentenced to five years’ imprisonment with a fine of Rs50,000 by the Special Judge, Central, Hyderabad.

A surprise inspection of the store was carried out on 15-5-1983 during which items/goods worth Rs29,270 were found missing. The accused in his capacity as in charge was booked. He was tried and sentenced by the trial court against which the present appeal was filed.

When the appeal came up for hearing, Abdul Mujeeb Pirzada, advocate, appearing for the appellant/accused, submitted that the prosecution examined only three witnesses against the accused, who contradicted each other. He said the inquiry report which became the basis of the case against the appellant/ accused was not produced before the trial court.

He also contended that no sanction was obtained from the state as required under the law, so the entire prosecution of the appellant/accused was null and void.

Agreeing with the contentions of the counsel for the accused/appellant, the bench set aside the sentence. — APP