Sole accused acquitted as prosecution fails to prove charges

An anti-terrorism court (ATC) on Wednesday acquitted the sole accused in Professor Dr Shakeel Auj’s murder case as the prosecution failed to prove charges against him.

The court in its judgment observed that since the prosecution failed to prove the charges of murder against the accused, Muhammad Mansoor, he is being acquitted from the murder case.

The court directed the prison authorities to release the accused provided he was not involved in any other cases. Mansoor was reportedly an activist of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), and was arrested on January 28, 2015, for gunning down University of Karachi’s Dean of Islamic Studies on September 18, 2014.

According to the prosecution, Prof Auj was shot dead on the main University Road at the Nipa overhead bridge in Gulshan-i-Iqbal when he was en route the Iranian Culture Centre, in Clifton, along with a colleague and a student. The student of the late professor also sustained injuries in the attack.

The investigation officer stated that police arrested Mansoor after an eyewitness identified him during an identification parade before a judicial magistrate. Furthermore, the IO claimed that a 9mm pistol used in the murder was found from a garbage dump near the crime scene on a lead given by the suspect after which he was also booked under the Sindh Arms Act, 2013.

He also claimed that Fahim Jabalpuri, Ehtisham and two unidentified men were absconders in the case. The police, however, failed to arrest the absconding accused. The court had issued non-bailable warrants of arrest against the absconders; the NBWs are to remain valid for life.

At the time the ATC-I judge, Bashir Ahmed Khoso, had sent Mansoor to prison on judicial remand while directing the IO to submit the investigation report. The suspect was said to have confessed to his and his accomplices’ involvement in the murder and had also disclosed his affiliation with the MQM.

A case was lodged under Sections 302 (premeditated murder), 324 (attempt to commit murder) and 34 (common intention) of the Pakistan Penal Code read with Section 7 of Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997 on the complaint of the slain professor’s son at the Aziz Bhatti police station.