Ex-PSM chairman, finance director acquitted in graft case

An accountability court on Saturday acquitted former chairman Moeen Aftab and director finance Sameen Asghar of the Pakistan Steel Mills (PMS) in a graft case pertaining to purchase of raw material at inflated prices to receive kickbacks.

The National Accountability Bureau had alleged that Aftab in connivance with Asghar approved the purchase of raw material for the PSM at higher prices than the market price and caused a loss of Rs378.196 million to the national exchequer.

The judge observed that the prosecution could not prove its case against the accused and acquitted them. Both the accused were on bail in the case and have been facing similar alleged corruption cases in other courts.

Capital punishment

An anti-terrorism court sentenced a man to death after convicting him of murdering police constable Noman and injuring officer Sohail during a shootout in the Aram Bagh area.

According to the prosecution, Raheel along with his absconding accomplice opened fire at the police party on a patrol within the jurisdiction of the Aram Bagh police station. As a result, Noman was killed and Sohail was wounded.

The judge also awarded him a total of 22 years in prison on the charges of attacking policemen, engaging in a shootout and having an illicit weapon. The capital punishment is subjected to be approved by the Sindh High Court.

The FIR of the incident was registered under sections 302 (premeditated murder), 324 (attempted murder), 353 (attacking law enforcers), 34 (common intention) of the Pakistan Penal Code, section 23(1)(a) of the Sindh Arms Act read with section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act.