Adopted son gets death penalty for poet's murder

The trial of the brutal murder of renowned Sindhi poet Dr Allah Bux alias Akash Ansari culminated in less than a year with the judge handing his stepson death sentence.

The Model Criminal Trial Court-I in Hyderabad sentenced Shah Lateef Ansari to death after finding him guilty of brutally killing his foster father and then setting his body on fire on February 15, 2025, at their rental residence in Hyderabad.

"It is worth mentioning here that there is no direct eyewitness account of the incident," the order, given by the 1st Additional Sessions Judge Tasawar Ali, underlined.

"Nonetheless, I am relying on last seen evidence — a chain of incriminating circumstances which, when considered collectively, unerringly point towards the guilt of the accused."

Dr Ansari had sustained 21 wounds of knife stabs, according to the postmortem report prepared by Medico Legal Officer Dr Abdul Hameed Mughal. The poet's death was caused by hemorrhagic bleeding and damage to vital organs like lungs and not the fire which had burnt his body and his bedroom.

Lateef, meanwhile, had pleaded not guilty. His counsel, Advocate Suhail Rajput, had argued during the hearings that Lateef's confessional statement before the civil judge and judicial magistrate Abdul Qadir Khoso was recorded under duress because he was subjected to torture in the police custody. He further contended that there was no eye-witness of the incident and that no independent witness has been cited in the case either.

The police have based their case on circumstantial evidence. weak and contradictory medical and forensic materials, he said. "The case that the accused made calls [to Rescue 1122] instead of extinguishing fire is not by itself proof of murder," he added. He also cited the reluctance of Meera, sister, to record her statement before the court as a weakness of the prosecution's case. Lateef was an adopted son of Dr Ansari but Meera was his real daughter.

The lawyer also disputed the police claim about Lateef being a drug addict, questioning what medical and psychological treatment was being provided to the accused in the police and the jail custody?

The judge, however, stated in the order that the prosecution has established charges against the accused "... it has now been settled that conviction can be based on confession alone even though retracted, if the same is found to be true and voluntary." The civil judge deposed before the court that he had recorded the confessional statement after recording all legal formalities.