Not guilty: Driver acquitted in accidental murder case

Ameer Jan, was booked for rash driving and accidental murder under sections 320, 279 and 427 of the PPC.

KARACHI: A district and sessions court acquitted a man accused of accidentally killing four men by driving rashly.

Jahanzeb, Sardar Ahmed, Umair Afzal and Sumair Afzal died while their friend, Muhammad Ismail, was injured in November 2009 when an oil tanker travelling on the National Highway careened out of control near Gulshan-e-Hadeed and fell onto the car they were in.

A crane had to be used to lift the tanker so that the bodies could be pulled out of the car and sent to Jinnah hospital. The tanker’s driver, Ameer Jan, was booked for rash driving and accidental murder under sections 320, 279 and 427 of the Pakistan Penal Code. But at the hearing on Tuesday, none of the witnesses testified against Jan, prompting the second additional and sessions judge, Munawar Sultana, to acquit him.

Ismail, who was present at the hearing, said that he and his friends had stopped in front of a trailer which was obstructing traffic flow. When he got out of the car to see what the holdup was about, an oil tanker rammed into the car and fell on it, crushing the passengers.