ATC acquits man in explosives case

An anti-terrorism court has acquitted an accused, said to be a frontman of banned Peoples Amn Committee chief and alleged gangster Uzair Baloch, in a case pertaining to possession of explosives.

Deedar Bhatti was charged with carrying a hand grenade within the jurisdiction of the Memon Goth police station in October 2020.

The ATC-XX judge, who conducted the trial in the judicial complex inside the central prison, pronounced his order after recording evidence and final arguments from the defence and prosecution.

The judge noted that in his statement under the section 342 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, the accused pleaded that he was arrested by police from the Sachal Goth area on September 20, 2020. His wife and other family members submitted applications to various platforms regarding his arrest and his son also filed a complaint about his alleged kidnapping, the judge added.

“Hence, this possibility cannot be brushed aside that the hand grenade allegedly recovered from the accused might have been foisted upon him by police,” the judge observed, ruling that the prosecution had not been able to prove its case against the accused beyond any reasonable shadow of doubt.

According to the prosecution, police received a tip on October 4, 2020 about the presence of a suspect near Sukhan Nadi. A police team was dispatched to the location and on the pointation of an informer, they apprehended the suspect who disclosed his name as Deedar Bhatti. Due to non-availability of private witnesses at the location, police searched the suspect in the presence of officials. He was found possessing a hand grenade. An FIR was lodged under the sections 4 and 5 of the Explosive Substances Act at the Memon Goth police station.