Alleged Lyari gangster acquitted in armoured carrier attack case

An anti-terrorism court (ATC) on Wednesday acquitted an accused who was said to be associated with the notorious Baba Ladla group in a decade-old case pertaining to an attack on an armoured personnel carrier (APC) in the Lyari area in which a police official was killed and another injured.

Shakeel Ahmed, alias Shakeel Commando, was charged with killing Constable Muhammad Essa and wounding Head Constable Asad Mehmood in an armed attack on the APC within the jurisdiction of the Baghdadi police station in November 2013.

The ATC-III judge, who conducted the trial in the judicial complex inside the central prison, announced his order after recording evindence and final arguments from both the defence and prosecution sides.

He ruled that the prosecution had failed to prove the charges against the accused, acquitting him in the case. According to the prosecution, on November 16, 2013, a police party was busy in hunt for Lyari gang war suspects when they received a tip-off about the presence of the most-wanted gangster Noor Muhamamd, alias Baba Ladla, and his aides Zahid Ladla, Allah Baksh, Nadeem Japanwala and Shakeel Commando near Dubai Chowk, Ahmed Shah Bukhari Road, within the jurisdiction of the Baghdadi police station.

When the police party reached the spot, the accused opened fire on them from all the directions with the intention to commit their murders. The bullets fired by them pierced the APC, injuring Constable Essa and Head Constable Mehmood. The attackers managed to flee the scene. Constable Essa later died at a hospital.

Defence lawyer Abid Zaman contended that there was no concrete evidence to prove the charges on his client.

An FIR was lodged under the sections 302 (murder), 324 (attempted murder), 353 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty) and 34 (common intention) of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) read with the Section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act at the Baghdadi police station on the complaint of then SHO Muhammad Alam Dahri.