Reasonable doubt: Sindh High Court acquits alleged extortionists

An ATC had earlier sentenced the two men to five years in jail.

KARACHI: The Sindh High Court (SHC) acquitted two men of extortion charges and ordered their release due to doubts in the investigation.

An anti-terrorism court (ATC) had, on January 22, awarded five years in jail to Imran Raza Rizvi and Muhammad Tahir and ordered them to pay a fine of Rs50,000 after finding them guilty of demanding extortion from a retired air force officer. When they did not pay the fine, both the men were ordered to serve an additional six months in jail.

The prosecution alleged that Rizvi and Tahir had demanded Rs500,000 from the complainant, Nisar Ahmed Khan, a finance manager at an ex-servicemen's golf club, while also threatening to kill him and his family members in December 2012. The Gulistan-e-Jauhar police later nabbed the accused when they came to collect the extortion money.

Both the convicts, however, appealed the ATC's sentence in the SHC, which had reserved its verdict after hearing arguments from their lawyers, the complainant and the prosecutor.

"In the present case, there are several circumstances that create reasonable doubt in the prosecution's case," stated Justice Naimatullah Phulpoto, who was heading the bench.

"We are unable to uphold the conviction and sentences of the appellants, Muhammad Tahir and Syed Imran Raza Rizvi, recorded by the trial court and by giving them the benefit of reasonable doubt, set aside their conviction and sentence and direct that they may be set at liberty, if not required in any other case," concluded the judges as they rejected the ATC's reference for confirmation of the sentences.

Reduced sentence

The same bench also reduced the sentences of two convicts, Muhammad Anwar and Safar, who were given life imprisonment by the special judge of the Control of Narcotics Substances Court-I, Karachi. Partly allowing their appeals, the SHC reduced their sentence to four years and six months each.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 18^th, 2015.