HYDERABAD: Hyderabad’s Model Criminal Trial Court has awarded capital punishment to four accused in the murder case of a dermatologist, who was found slain at his house in Citizen Colony on March 7, 2023.

According to assistant district public prosecutor Vijay Dutt, the accused, Hanif Leghari, Tanveer Bhutto, Qaim Bhutto and Manzoor Bhutto, who were brought from central prison Hyderabad to appear in the court, were awarded death sentence on Monday.

The court, presided over by additional district judge-I, acquitted co-accused in the case, Raju Katchi alias Raja by giving him benefit of doubt. Another accused, Abdul Salam Sahito, was already declared proclaimed offender and he would be tried when he was arrested, he said.

The four accused were found guilty of murdering dermatologist Dr Dharam Dev Rathi under section 302 (b) of PPC. They would pay Rs500,000 each as compensation to the victim’s heirs under Section 544-A Cr.PC and in case of default they would undergo six months’ imprisonment, said the verdict.

The accused were also sentenced for committing dacoity under Section 396 PPC and they would have to pay Rs500,000 fine each. In case of default, they would suffer imprisonment for three years, it said.

The court said that charge was framed under Sections 302, 396 and 404 of PPC and since the accused were charged for commission of dacoity with murder therefore they could not be convicted for 404 PPC when the charge was murder and dacoity.

The court said that the accused might file appeal against the verdict within seven days as the death sentences were subject to confirmation by Sindh High Court.

The court said that evidence about Raju’s involvement was lacking, therefore he was acquitted on the basis of benefit of doubt. He was on bail and his bail bonds stood cancelled, it said.

Convicts sent back to central prison

The 60-year-old dermatologist, Dr Dharam Dev Rathi, was killed by his driver at his house in Citizen Colony on March 7, 2023, according to the SSP Amjad Shaikh who had quoted the doctor’s cook, Dileep Thakur, as saying that driver Hanif Leghari murdered the doctor and fled.

According the cook, both the doctor and his driver were involved in an altercation when they arrived home that day.

The cook was quoted as telling police that Leghari, a resident of Khairpur Mirs, brutally slaughtered the doctor and fled. The family of Dr Rathi, who had retired from health department, were living in the United States at that time, he said.

Published in Dawn, November 20th, 2024