Capital punishment: Constable sentenced to death for killing Preedy SHO

The policeman was found guilty of murdering his superior officer.

KARACHI: A policeman was sentenced to death by an anti-terrorism court (ATC) for shooting the SHO of the Preedy police station.

The ATC-III, on Monday, sentenced to death the accused police constable, Nazakat Ali — who was also a gunman of the deceased — after the prosecution successfully established the charges filed against him. “The prosecution has proved that the accused committed the murder of the deceased and spread terror by means of opening [aerial] fire, just for personal purposes, which were to save himself and misguide authorities,” stated the verdict. “Therefore, he is guilty.”

The judge ordered the accused to pay a fine of Rs500,000. If he doesn’t, the accused will have to undergo a two-year imprisonment and also forfeit all his moveable and immovable property of the accused.

According to the prosecution, SHO Agha Assadullah Khan was patrolling in his private car on April 8, 2013, with Ali seated in the rear. When the car reached Daud Pota Road, Ali shot Khan in the back of the head, claimed the prosecution. “In order to cover up, he got out of the car, fired aerial shots and pretended that someone had attacked them,” said the prosecution. An FIR was later lodged against unidentified persons on the basis of Ali’s claims.

The deputy district public prosecutor, Abdul Maroof, said that eyewitness, circumstantial, ballistic and medical evidence was produced to connect the accused with the crime. Maroof said that ballistic evidence confirmed that Khan was shot with Ali’s gun as the empty shells gathered from the crime scene matched Ali’s police-issued SMG.

According to the medical evidence, the bullet entry point revealed that it was shot from a high-velocity weapon and the gap between the entry and exit points was narrow, which suggests that Khan was shot dead from close range.

While Ali claimed that Khan was attacked by unknown assailants, his version was contradicted by witnesses. “Private witnesses have testified that the man standing in the accused box was the one who killed Khan and then fired aerial shots,” said Maroof. “There was no contradiction in the statements of the witnesses.”

After producing all evidence, the prosecution demanded capital punishment for the accused. The court then awarded him the death sentence. The verdict is, however, subject to a confirmation by the high court.

The benefit of Section 382-b (period of detention to be considered while awarding sentence of imprisonment) of the Criminal Procedure Code was extended to the accused, who was remanded back into custody to serve the sentence awarded by the court.

A case, No. 134/13, was registered against Ali at the Preedy police staton under Section 302 of the Pakistan Penal Code, read along with Section 7-a of the Anti-Terrorism Act 1997.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 1^st, 2014.