An anti-terrorism court (ATC) has exonerated three activists of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement of the murder of a policeman in Azizabad.
Shahabuddin, Shahnawaz, alias Shano, and Muhammad Hussain, alias Asif Faqira, were charged with shooting to death police constable Danish with an unlicenced pistol on October 17, 2015.
The ATC-XVI judge acquitted the three accused in two cases related to the murder and possession of an illegal weapon for want of evidence. He announced the verdict after recording evidence and final arguments from both the defence and prosecution sides. The trial was held in the judicial complex inside the Central Jail Karachi.
The prosecution had argued that the three men shot dead Constable Danish near the Gold Market in the Karimabad area. During interrogation, they confessed to murdering the cop for stopping them from setting up a roadside stall in the market.
The weapon used in the crime, a 9mm caliber pistol, was found at a graveyard in Hussainabad with the help of information provided by the accused, the prosecution said. The Rangers’ prosecutor Shahzad Anjum stated that the pistol had matched with the empties found at the crime scene during the forensic examination, and the circumstantial and ocular evidence of three prosecution witnesses fully substantiated the prosecution case.
However, defence counsel Mushtaq Ahmed argued that Shahnawaz and Hussain were whisked away from their houses by the Rangers in February 2016 and their families had approached the Sindh High Court for their recovery.
After a 90-day preventive detention, they were turned in to the police that booked them in the present case and foisted the weapon upon them, he said, adding that Shahab who was already in police custody in two other cases and was later implicated in the current case as well.
The counsel said the prosecution’s evidence was doubtful and did not support the deposition of the witnesses. He asked the court to acquit his clients. The FIR had been registered at the Azizabad police station on the behalf of the state under murder and terrorism charges.
Source link: https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/1011077-atc-acquits-three-mqm-activists-of-cop-s-murder