KARACHI: The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Tuesday set aside the life imprisonment of a former ‘sector in charge’ and alleged hitman of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) in a double murder case.

An antiterrorism court had in February 2022 sentenced Raees­uddin alias Mama of the MQM to life in prison for killing SP Shah Mohammad and his friend, Dr Dilshad Ali, outside latter’s clinic in Korangi in May 2012.

The convict, through his counsel, had filed an appeal challenging the trial court verdict before the SHC.

After hearing both sides and examining the record and proceedings of the case, the SHC allowed the appeal and acquitted the appellant.

Bench sets aside life term given to Raees Mama in 2012 targeted killing of SP, his friend

However, the appellant will remain behind bars as he has been facing trial in several targeted killing cases.

In its verdict, the antiterrorism appellate bench of the SHC, hea­ded by Justice Mohammad Karim Khan Agha, ruled that the judicial confession of the appellant was not recorded voluntarily while two eyewitnesses in the case could not reliably identify him.

The bench observed that the case of the prosecution was mainly rested on the evidence of two eyewitnesses — the driver of the slain SP and a vegetable vendor.

It noted that surprisingly Constable Riaz Ahmed, the driver of the SP, who is also the complainant in the case, was fully conscious five hours after the incident and recorded a very detailed FIR despite sustaining multiple bullets wounds in the attack.

The bench also observed that the complainant also did not give any detail about the appearance of the assailants in the FIR as well as in his subsequent statement recorded by police under Section 161 of the criminal procedure code.

However, it added, around four weeks after the incident, the driver was brought to the office of the Citizen-Police Liaison Committee (CPLC) in order to draw sketches of the accused, where he said he was unable to recognise any of them.

The verdict noted that the complainant had picked out the appellant during an identification parade before a judicial magistrate, but the same had no legal weight as pictures/videos of the appellant were flashed all over the media when he was allegedly arrested at the airport on March 26, 2018.

About second eyewitness vendor Lal Khan, the bench said that he appeared to be a chance witness, who disappeared from the city for four months after the incident without giving any statement to police and he also did not provide any appearance of the assailants in his testimony recorded later by the police.

The SHC was of the view that the eyewitnesses were not able to correctly and reliably identify the appellant as they gave no detail about the appearance of the appellant at any time before his arrest.

It said that that the main piece of the evidence against the appellant was his retracted judicial confession in which he confessed “in extreme detail to numerous heinous crimes which he and other party accomplices carried out over a number of years”.

“We find it impossible that the appellant could have made such a detailed confession during one sitting before a magistrate without any notes. He would have needed to have a brain either like a computer or a photographic memory which he does not possess. As the appellant has himself claimed the confession was most likely prepared by the police and/or Rangers and he was simply made to sign it,” the bench observed in the verdict.

The judgement stated that the retracted judicial confession was “not made voluntarily with the object to tell truth and thus no reliance was made on it”.

It concluded that since the prosecution could not prove its case against the accused beyond a reasonable doubt, he was acquitted by extending him the benefit of doubt.

According to the prosecution, the SP had visited the clinic of his friend Dr Dilshad for nasal and chest check-up. Afterwards, the doctor accompanied the police officer to see him off and in the meantile four assailants emerged there and fired a volley of bullets, killing the police officer and the doctor and wounding SP’s driver who was sitting in the official vehicle.

The police had arrested Syed Ejaz Qadri in 2013 in another case and during interrogation he confessed to his involvement in the present case and also named his accomplices, the prosecution added.

However, the court had already exonerated Qadri in the present case.

Published in Dawn, October 11th, 2023