Verdict on Jan 23 as trial of Rao Anwar, others concludes

The high-profile trial of Malir’s former senior superintendent of police (SSP) Rao Anwar and his around two dozen subordinates accused of shooting to death an aspiring model from South Waziristan, Naqeebullah Mehsud, in a staged encounter, concluded on Saturday, exactly five years after the gruesome killing that triggered outpouring of condemnations on social media and countrywide protests by civil society against him and his team.

Anwar and other police officers were charged with murdering Naseebullah, better known as Naqeebullah, and three others – Muhammad Ishaque, Nazar Jan and Muhammad Sabir – in the fake encounter on January 13, 2018 after dubbing them militants.

The former SSP along five accused is out on bail while 12 others are in custody and seven have been declared absconders.

The Anti-Terrorism Court-XVI Judge, who conducted the trial in the judicial complex inside the Karachi central prison, reserved his judgement after recording statements of prosecution witnesses and accused as well as arguments from both the defence and prosecution sides. He fixed January 23 for the pronouncement of the judgement.

During the lengthy trial that also suffered delays for various reasons, as many as 51 witnesses, including five eyewitnesses — Muhammad Qasim, Hazrat Ali, Sharoob Khan, Humayun and Afsar Khan — were examined.

In his closing arguments, advocate Salahuddin Panhwar, the counsel for the complainant, stated that the case involved three episodes: the abduction of Naqeeb, his illegal detention and later extrajudicial killing. He said Naqeeb along with Hazrat Ali and Qasim was abducted from Gulsher Agha Hotel on Abul Hassan Isphani Road on January 3, 2018, by the accused, who demanded Rs1 million ransom for his release, adding that Ali and Qasim were released from illegal detention on January 6 while Naqeeb was handed over to the Shah Latif Town police.

On January 13, Naqeeb and three others were shot dead in a staged encounter in Usman Khaskheli Goth by the accused police officers who dubbed the victims as terrorists.

“Geofencing, a technical analysis of call data records and circumstantial evidence suggested the involvement of Rao Anwar in the extrajudicial killings,” Panhwar said. “Anwar in his statement recorded under Section 342 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) also admitted that he had knowledge of the matter and also led a convoy to the crime scene after being contacted by the SHO Shah Latif Town.”

He argued that the former SSP abetted the kidnapping for ransom and murder of the victim and later tried to cover up the unlawful acts by billing the victims as militants. He pleaded with the court to punish the accused police officers according to the law.

On the other hand, defence lawyers Abid Zaman and Aamir Mansoob contended that there were discrepancies in the statements of the witnesses and requested the judge to acquit their clients.

According to the prosecution, the call data record showed Rao Anwar’s presence at the crime scene and near the New Sabzi Mandi on the Super Highway on January 4, 5, 8, 9 and 13. However, Rao Anwar in his statement had denied the allegations of being involved in the extrajudicial killings and testified that he was not present at the place of the occurrence at the time of the incident, nor did he ever visit new Sabzi Mandi between January 4 and 6, 2018. He claimed that he was implicated in the case on the basis of “managed geo-fencing and call data record” at the behest of a senior police officer he had professional rivalry with.

The former SSP, eluding law enforcers for two months, had surrendered before the Supreme Court and was subsequently taken into custody. He was shifted to a house-turned sub-jail in the Malir cantonment area instead of being kept in the central jail and finally released on bail in July 2018.