SC acquits man after 15 years in Sahiwal murder case

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court has acquitted the accused after 15 years in a murder case.

A three-member bench of the Supreme Court comprising Justice Hashim Khan Kakar, Justice Salahuddin Panhor and Justice Ishtiaq Ibrahim delivered the verdict.

The court acquitted Naeem Arshad alias Pappu, the named accused in the murder case over a dispute over the outstanding amount of Rs 2,500 for clothes, of the charge of murder after 15 years and ordered his immediate release.

The Supreme Court also declared the Lahore High Court’s decision of November 29, 2017 null and void.

The court’s decision stated that the presence of the complainant at the scene is suspicious and there was complete darkness at the time of the incident, and the source of light was not mentioned.

According to the court’s decision, the incident did not occur in the manner described, but the matter is mysterious and according to the investigation officer, the fire was not done by Naeem Arshad but by Shahbaz Ali.

The court said that the shell casing found by chance with the pistol recovered from Shahbaz Ali was a match and Shahbaz Ali has already been acquitted by the trial court because neither the state appealed against Shahbaz Ali’s acquittal nor was the complainant challenged it, while not presenting the witnesses in court is a negative impression against the prosecution.

The deceased Anwar was shot dead at a clothing shop in Sahiwal on March 14, 2011. According to the complainant, there was a dispute over the outstanding amount of Rs 2,500 for clothes two days before the murder, while the trial court had sentenced Naeem Arshad to 25 years in prison in 2015.