KARACHI, Jan 23: A man convicted of robbery was released by a district and sessions court when he entered a guilty plea because the length of his stay in prison as an undertrail exceeded the sentence handed down on Friday.

Additional District and Session Judge (south) Nizar Ali Khawaja sentenced the accused, Kashif, to three years behind bars in a 2004 motorbike snatching case after he pleaded guilty.

While taking the mitigation plea, the public prosecutor, Abdul Maroof, requested to the court to give lenient punishment to the accused as he had pleaded guilty.

The court also imposed a fine of Rs5,000 on the convict and ordered that in case of default he would undergo an additional three-month imprisonment.

The convict was given the benefit of Section 382-B (period of detention to be considered while awarding sentence of imprisonment) of the criminal procedure code.

As the convict has been languishing in the prison since Sept 2004 and has already completed the sentence handed down on Friday, the judge directed the jail authorities to release him if he was not wanted in any other case.

According to the prosecution, on Aug 29, 2004 accused Kashif snatched a motorcycle from the complainant, Azam Khursheed, in the limits of Mehmoodabad police station. However, he was arrested on Sept 1, 2004 and was remanded in judicial custody.

A case (FIR174/04) was registered under Section 392 of the Pakistan Penal Code at Mehmoodabad police station.

Suspects remanded

A civil judge and judicial magistrate (south) remanded on Friday two suspects in police custody till Jan 28.

The police arrested the suspects, Mohammad Ali and Umair, on Jan 22 and claimed to have recovered weapons and other looted items from their possession. Some 20 cases were registered against the suspects at Gizri police station.