Court sentences two brothers to life imprisonment in 2013 triple murder case

A sessions court has sentenced two brothers to life imprisonment in a 2013 triple murder case. Aamir and Tanveer were found guilty of opening fire and killing Mehtab, Areeb and Aizaz Taj and injuring three others in the Paposh Nagar area on October 14, 2023 over some personal enmity.

Additional District and Sessions Judge Ghulam Abbas Memon of the Model Criminal Trial Court (Central) observed that the prosecution proved its case beyond any shadow of reasonable doubt against both the accused Aamir and Tanveer.

The court awarded life term to both convicts on account of the murders and ordered them to pay a fine of Rs50,000 each. Both were ordered to pay a compensation of Rs200,000 each to the legal heirs of each deceased. Additionally, the judge sentenced the accused to five-year imprisonment each for attempted murder of injured persons.

“The lesser punishment is being awarded to the accused persons looking to the circumstances of the case whereby the motive has not been traced out rather remained shrouded mystery,” he noted noted. Besides, he added that the indiscriminating firing made by the accused persons over the deceased persons and injured persons did not specify that from whose firing which of deceased was died. “Moreover, non-recovery of crime weapons from the possession of the accused persons nor on their pointation, therefore, all these circumstances, are considered as mitigating circumstances,” the judge added.

The judgment was announced in a de novo trial following the Sindh High Court’s decision to set aside the earlier 2019 conviction and remand the case for fresh proceedings. The high court had noted procedural irregularities in the previous judgment, including improper framing of charges and lack of clarity regarding compensation and sentencing.

According to the prosecution, on October 14, 2013, the complainant Naseer Taj was travelling with his sons Faizan Taj, Hammad Taj, Aizaz Taj and nephews Adeel Taj, Mehtab, Areeb, Danish Taj, Sajjad, Shah Zaib, and Muneeb, and a neighboring boy named Chaati to Sohrab Goth to purchase sacrificial animals for Eid-ul-Azha. They were travelling in a hi-roof vehicle and on a motorcycle.

When they reached Roe-e-dad Nagar, Paposh Nagar, Karachi, they saw Naseer Taj’s uncle, Haji Muhammad Maroof, standing with his sons Tanveer, Amir, Yasir, Chan Zaib, Khurram, Asif, Saghir, Kashif, and Saleem. As their vehicle approached, Haji Maroof allegedly shouted an order to “open fire on them.”

Following this instigation, Tanveer, Amir, and Yasir, with the intention to kill, opened indiscriminate fire from their pistols on the complainant’s family. As a result, Mehtab, Sajjad, Aizaz Taj, Muneeb, and Adeel sustained serious gunshot injuries, while the assailants fled the scene.

The injured were rushed to Abbasi Shaheed Hospital, where doctors pronounced Mehtab and Areeb dead on arrival. Aizaz Taj, aged nine, later succumbed to his injuries during treatment.