Witnesses accused police of pressurising them to nominate Achakzai in murder case: court

QUETTA: A Quetta model court  said  that witnesses in the murder case of  a traffic warden said that they were pressurised by police to nominate former MPA Abdul Majeed Achakzai in the case.

The court, in its detailed verdict regarding the case on Monday, stated that in light of the development, witnesses' statements had become inadmissible.

The detailed judgement said that the former MPA was acquitted as the prosecution could not bring forth evidence enough to convict him.

Moreover, none of the 20 witnesses confirmed that Achakzai drove the car that ran over and killed the police official, confirmed the verdict.

Achakzai was arrested days after as he allegedly hit and ran over traffic warden Haji Attaullah at Quetta's GPO Chowk on June 20, 2017. The warden suffered serious injuries and later died at a hospital.

During his 14-day remand, an identity parade was not conducted against Achakzai, the detailed verdict said, adding that there wasn't enough ground to convict him.

After the court acquitted the former MPA, Quetta police decided to file an appeal against the decision at the Balochistan High Court.

The Balochistan police had initially launched an FIR but after the CCTV footage of the accident went viral on social media and was repeatedly shown by TV channels, it decided to lodge a murder case against the former MPA.

However, he was granted bail by an anti-terrorism court (ATC) six months later and has been out of jail since then.

On Friday, Achakzai appeared before the court as the judge announced the verdict.

After his arrest, terrorism charges were included in the first information report (FIR) lodged against the former lawmaker.

However, a court in Quetta had ordered the removal of the terrorism charges on his appeal and the case was transferred to a model court.