Court sentences man to six years in prison in Karachi

KARACHI: A sessions court sentenced on Wednesday a man to six years in prison after convicting him of taking part in an armed attack on a vehicle that killed three people in Bufferzone neighbourhood six years ago.

The additional district and sessions judge at the Judicial Complex inside the Central Jail, Karachi, found Muhammad Owais guilty of the offence on the basis that the bullet casing found from the crime scene matched an unlicensed pistol recovered from his possession.

Three people, Salahuddin, Abdul Owais and Syed Raheel, were killed as assailants in a Suzuki Alto and on motorcycles ambushed the vehicle they were travelling in on the Sher Shah Suri Road near Erum Shopping Emporium on July 24, 2011.

The case, 433/2011, was registered under sections 302 (premeditated murder) and 34 (common intention) of the Pakistan Penal Code at the Taimooria police station against unidentified suspects on the complaint of a brother of one of the deceased.

Muhammad Owais was initially booked in an illicit weapons case, 204/2011, registered under Section 13-D of the arms ordinance at the New Karachi police station as an unlicensed pistol was allegedly recovered from his possession.

Later, the police booked him in the triple murder case as, according to the investigators, the bullet casings found at the crime scene matched the pistol found on Muhammad Owais during a forensic examination.

The judge heard around 12 prosecution witnesses, including policemen, but no independent witness deposed against the accused during the trial. The only evidence that proved offence on the accused’s part was the forensic report of the bullets empties and the pistol.

The court also imposed a fine of Rs50,000 on the convict. In case the convict failed to pay the amount, he will undergo six more months of imprisonment. Meanwhile, the court extended the accused a benefit under the Code of Criminal Procedure and ruled that the time he has already spent in prison will also be counted in the sentence.

The convict is said to be an activist of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement.

According to the police, Rizwan Qureshi, the suspect who narrated the terrorism factor in the Baldia factory fire case, and others were also involved in the killings.

Source: The Express Tribune