A model trial court in Dadu indicted on Saturday a pair of brothers — both MPAs from the ruling PPP — in a triple murder case in Mehar town.

MPAs Sardar Chandio and Burhan Chandio pleaded not guilty after charges were framed against them. The court summoned witnesses in the next hearing on December 3 to proceed with the case.

“We have recorded our statements in the court,” MPA Sardar said while talking to the media after the indictment, adding that they would plead their case in the next hearing.

Tight security measures were in place during the hearing. A heavy contingent of police was put on alert to avert any untoward incident.

The two brothers along with five other suspects, identified as Ali Gohar, Sattar, Sikandar, Murtaza and Zulfiqar, were nominated as accused in the triple murder of Raees Karamullah Chandio, the then chairman of the Baldai union council of Mehar taluka, his two sons Mukhtiar Chandio and Qabil Chandio. They were killed when a group of armed men attacked their residence in Ahmed Colony in Mehar taluka on Jan 17, 2018. One of the attackers was also killed in retaliatory fire by the inmates.

The bereaved family, which was politically associated with the PPP, believed that the attack was carried out at the behest of Sardar, who was the chieftain of his tribe in Mehar, and his younger brother Burhan, the then aide to the Sindh chief minister.

Pervaiz Ahmed Chandio, a surviving son of late Karamullah, lodged the first information reports and nominated the suspects. Pervaiz had accused the two influential brothers in the first information report of complicity in the attack on their residence and the murder of his three close relatives.

Later, Pervaiz’s cousin Umme Rubab Chandio, who was Mukhtiar’s daughter, moved the Supreme Court after the Sindh police failed to arrest the absconding suspects in the case and at the same time launched a protest campaign to seek the support of civil society and political and nationalist parties in helping her bring all the culprits to justice.

During the course of the protest campaign, Umme Rubab alleged that her family’s rivals were issuing threats to scare her into stopping the campaign and pursuing the case.