Karachi: The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Wednesday called record and proceedings from the trial court on an appeal against the acquittal of former Malir SSP Rao Anwar and 17 others in the kidnapping and murder case of Naqeebullah Mehsud and three others.
Anwar and 17 other police personnel were acquitted by an anti-terrorism court (ATC) on January 23 from the kidnapping and murder charges of Naqeebullah and three others in an alleged encounter in the Shah Latif Town area on January 13, 2018.
According to the prosecution, Anwar and other police personnel kidnapped Naqeebullah and two others in the Sohrab Goth area on January 3, and released two of them after two- or three-day detention. The prosecution alleged that Anwar and his police team kept Naqeebullah for almost 10 days and later killed him along with three others — Mohammad Ishaque, Nazar Jan and Mohammad Sabir, who were also taken away from Punjab during last couple of years — in a staged police encounter.
The appellant, Alam Sher, who is brother of Naqeebullah, had filed an appeal against the acquittal of Anwar and others in the case by the ATC.
His counsel submitted in the appeal that the trial court had erred by passing a consolidated judgment in three cases which rendered the impugned judgment to be a nullity in the eyes of the law. He submitted that the trial court had erred in discarding crucial evidence in the shape of geo-fencing reports and CDR solely for the reason that their author and/or a witness from the concerned cellular company had not been produced and examined by the prosecution in support of the same.
He submitted that the trial court had also discarded abduction charges against the respondents although sufficient evidence had been produced with regard to the kidnapping of Naqeebullah.
He submitted that the entire reasoning given by the trial court for not believing the circumstantial evidence connecting the accused/respondents to the instant crime was lack of direct evidence and the alleged unreliability of the statements of the prosecution witnesses regarding the factum of abduction, however, the upshot of what had been discussed prima facie showed that the trial court had failed to correctly peruse and appreciate the ocular witness testimonies regarding the abduction of the deceased Naqeebullah and the prosecution witnesses.
He submitted that the prosecution had established its case in the light of ample evidence proving the factum of abduction, the consequent chain of events of captivity and murder of the deceased Naqeebullah at the hands of the accused/respondents.
The high court was requested to set aside the trial court order with regard to the acquittal of Anwar and other police personnel in the kidnapping and murder case or remand the case for re-trial from the stage of framing of charge. A division bench of the SHC headed by Justice Naimatullah Phulpoto admitted the appeal for hearing, called the record and proceedings of the case and fixed the matter in the second week of January.
