Wheels of justice: Four sentenced to death for murder

Karachi Broast owner was kidnapped, killed in July 2008

KARACHI: Four persons, including a husband, and wife, were sentenced to death on Tuesday after they were found guilty of kidnapping and murdering the owner of Karachi Broast eight years ago.

Moshin Raza, his wife Shazia, their two associates Adnan Haider and Nazia, were convicted of kidnapping and killing restaurateur Sheikh Muhammad Mansoor in 2008.

Mansoor, 50, was kidnapped on July 3, 2008 when he was returning home to North Karachi from his fast food joint at Boat Basin. He was driving down Khalid Bin Waleed Road when two women signalled him to stop. They told him their car had broken down. Mansoor tried to fix up their vehicle but failed. He, then, agreed to drop them at their residence in Liaquatabad.

According to investigators, the trio, on the way, developed a good conversation and as the women reached their residence, they offered Mansoor a cup of tea to which he agreed. While he was inside, two men came in and snatched cash, mobile phone, and other valuables from Mansoor and then shot him dead.

The kidnappers reportedly kept the body in the house for two days and later chopped it into pieces and dumped it in a gunny bag near Rizvia Imambargah in district Central. The incident remained unreported until the arrest of the suspects more than two weeks later.

The gang was apprehended by the Anti-Violent Crime Cell on July 22 in a raid conducted on a tip-off. The suspects, however, were taken into custody in another case in which they abducted and killed a Customs clearing agent, Sohrab Khan. They were convicted in that case in 2010. Raza already faces a death sentence while the three have been awarded life imprisonment.

During the interrogation, the suspects reportedly confessed to kidnapping and killing the restaurateur. Police then exhumed the victim’s body from Edhi graveyard in Mochko and obtained a DNA report.

The charge-sheet of the case was filed in September, 2008 and anti-terrorism court (ATC)-III was assigned the trial. At the time of indictment, all the suspects pleaded innocent and contended that they were falsely implicated in the case. The trial was later referred to ATC-VII and was conducted inside the jail.

In his verdict, judge Akhlaque Hussain Larak observed that the two witnesses, who had seen the women standing with the victim on the road, rightly picked them before a judicial magistrate during an identification parade. The judgment also referred to evidences, such as the victim’s mobile phone recovered from the kidnappers, its data and other forensic reports.

Besides capital punishment, the court also awarded the accused seven years imprisonment and fined each of them Rs50,000. If they fail to pay, they will undergo six months more imprisonment.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 3^rd,  2016.