Murder of NAB chief’s parents: LHC acquits three men over lack of evidence

LAHORE: A Lahore High Court (LHC) division bench on Monday acquitted over “lack of evidence” three persons including the stepbrother of National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Chairman Justice (retd) Javed Iqbal, who had been sentenced to death by a sessions court in the murder case of the NAB chairman’s parents.

In 2011, Javed’s parents were found dead in their house, which was guarded round the clock. Later on, as the mystery unfolded, the police identified the killer as Naveed Iqbal, who had killed Javed’s father Malik Abdul Majeed, 80, a former DIG, and stepmother Zarina, 70, over a monetary dispute. Officials said Naveed was assisted by Abbas Shakir and Ameen Ali. All the three men were sentenced to death and fined Rs 550,000 each by the sessions court in 2016 in the murder case.

Advocate Sheeba Qaisar appeared on behalf of the three convicts and stated that her clients were arrested by the police over mere suspicion. She pointed out that neither there were any direct evidence available against them nor a single witness attributed them to any role in the commission of murder. She urged the high court to overturn the verdict and acquit them on the grounds of insufficient evidence.

The LHC bench headed by Justice Sadaqat Ali Khan and Justice Shehram Sarwar Ch ruled that prosecution had failed to prove charges against the appellants beyond reasonable doubts as there was not enough evidence against the suspects to be held guilty and set aside the sessions court's verdict.