PHC acquits ex-DSP, co-accused in illegal assets case

PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Wednesday set aside the accountability court decision and acquitted former Deputy Superintendent of Police Rajab Ali and co-accused Lateef Hussain of charges of making illegal assets disproportionate to their source of income.

A division bench comprising Justice Roohul Amin Khan and Justice Muhammad Ghazanfar Khan announced the reserved verdict in the appeals filed against the decision of accountability court.

The accountability court had on February 8, 2016 sentenced DSP Rajab Ali to 12 years rigorous imprisonment with fine of Rs10.4 million after the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) proved charges of making illegal assets against him in the court.

The accountability court judge had also awarded 12 years sentence and fine of over Rs10 million to co-accused Lateef Hussain in the case.“The prosecution failed to produce the required evidence to prove the alleged ill-gotten money to be disproportionate to the known sources of income of the appellant Rajab Ali and the alleged abetment and joining hands of the co-appellant Latif Hussain with him in the disputed sale/ transaction. Accordingly, both the appeals are allowed, the conviction and sentence of both the appellants recorded by the trial court are set aside and they are acquitted of charge leveled against them,” the bench concluded in the verdict. Shumail Ahmad Butt and Barrister Syed Mudasir Ameer appeared for the appellants while deputy prosecutor general appeared for the NAB in the appeals against convictions.