SHC upholds death sentence in extortion and murder case

The Sindh High Court (SHC) has maintained the death sentence of a convict but set aside life imprisonment of two co-accused in a case pertaining to extortion and murder.

Abdul Rehman was sentenced to death while Anwar Baloch and Ahmed Hasan were sentenced to life imprisonment by an anti-terrorism court (ATC) for murdering Saleemuddin in January 2017.

The prosecution maintained that the appellants had killed Saleemuddin in a factory situated in Gabol Town when he refused to pay extortion money to them.

As the convicts appealed against the ATC’s verdict, they requested the SHC to set aside the judgment, claiming that the prosecution has not been able to prove charges against them. A division bench of the SHC headed by Justice Mohammad Karim Khan Agha, after hearing the arguments, observed that there was a confessional statement of Rehman and footage of a closed-circuit television (CCTV) camera installed at the industrial unit also showed him firing firing at the deceased, and his own mother also identified him in that CCTV footage.

The high court observed that the motive behind the killing had also been established as the deceased had refused to pay protection money, due to which the case stood proved against Rehman beyond any shadow of doubt.

However, the SHC observed that there was no incriminating evidence against the other two appellants to connect them with the murder case beyond any shadow of doubt. The high court observed that although Rehman had named Anwar in his confessional statement as his accomplice, the prosecution could not provide any corroborating evidence.

The SHC observed that evidence against Hasan was the FSL report which confirmed that the weapon recovered from him was used in the crime; however, the bullet casings found at the crime scene were sent for analysis after a delay of around seven months.

The court upheld the death sentence of Rehman but set aside life imprisonment of the two co-accused in the offence. The court however upheld the 14-year-imprisonment for Hasan for the offence of carrying an unlicensed weapon.