SHC grants bail to two in murder case, rejects plea of third suspect

The Sindh High Court (SHC) has granted bail to two accused and rejected bail application of a third accused in a murder case.

Applicants Syed Habib, Mohammad Ayaz and Zeeshan were arrested by the police for murdering a man, Mohammad Saleem, in the Korangi area on June 7, 2023.

The counsel for the applicants, Aamir Mansoob Qureshi, submitted that the material collected against the applicants was sketchy and did not point out their involvement in the crime in definitive terms.

He said that although the empty shell recovered from the crime scene was sent to the laboratory earlier than the pistol, both were examined together, due to which manipulation could not be ruled out.

He submitted that this was the case of two versions as subsequently, the mother of the deceased moved an application stating that the widow of the deceased was an accomplice who hired assassins for murdering her husband.

He submitted that the identification of the two accused took place before the investigation officer and not before the magistrate, due to which it was inadmissible as evidence.

An additional prosecutor general opposed grant of bail to the applicants submitting that they were arrested in a different crime and during the interrogation, they admitted to murdering the deceased man.

He submitted that the crime weapon was recovered on the basis of information provided by Ayaz and the CDR record of phone of Ayaz also pointed out his contact with the deceased on the day of the incident.

He submitted that Zeeshan’s role was arranging a car on rent on which the applicants travelled to the spot where they committed the offence, whereas Habib provided the crime weapon to Ayaz, with which he committed the murder.

A single bench of the SHC comprising Justice Mohammad Iqbal Kalhoro after hearing the arguments of the counsel observed that insofar as the role of the applicants Zeeshan and Habib was concerned, it required further inquiry for they had not been assigned any specific role for causing murder of the deceased.

The high court observed that the evidence against them was only admission of Ayaz before the police during interrogation disclosing arrangement of a car and supply of pistol by them to him for committing the murder and these pieces of evidence required determination at the trial.

The SHC observed that there was evidence which prima facie connected Ayaz with the present offence.

In a recent hearing, the high court granted bail to Zeeshan and Habib, whereas, the bail application of Ayaz was dismissed.