Murder case: ATC upholds death sentence of two cop killers

Accused were found guilty of killing two policemen in May 2012

KARACHI: An anti-terrorism court (ATC) upheld on Wednesday its previous decision to sentence two drug peddlers to death for killing two police personnel.

The ATC-II awarded capital punishment to Umer and Fazal after conducting a re-trial on orders from the Sindh High Court. The same court had given them the punishment earlier in February, 2014. However, the convicts had challenged the verdict.

The judge found both of them guilty of the double murder and observed that the witnesses' testimonies and evidence proved the offence. The judge remarked in the order that the prosecution successfully proved its case while the defence could not bring on record anything in support of their contentions.

According to the prosecution, Umer and Fazal killed police constables Arif and Muhammad Khan in Ittehad Town in May 2012. The policemen, performing snap checking, had signaled to the duo, who were riding a motorcycle, to stop. The pillion riders opened fire on the law enforcers, killing them on the spot while injuring a passerby. They also took away the official sub-machine gun of one of the deceased policemen.

The incident

The accused were held a week after the incident, according to the court order, and were checked with the eyewitnesses for confirmation. One of the eyewitnesses identified them as the assailants before a judicial magistrate and deposed against them in the trial court. The police also found from their possession the weapon used in the killing, the order read, and it matched the bullet casings found from the scene. A forensic report submitted to the court confirmed this. The snatched weapon was also recovered on a lead given by the accused, it added.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 11^th, 2016.