Naqeebullah murder case: SHO among seven policemen acquitted due to ‘lack of evidence’

• Seven fugitive accused surrendered after ATC announced verdict.
• Ex-SSP Rao Anwar among 18 acquitted in earlier hearings.
• Naqeebullah killed in 2018 in what probe termed fake encounter.

KARACHI: An Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) on Saturday acquitted the remaining seven accused in the Naqeebullah Mehsud murder case, citing lack of evidence, bringing the total number of acquittals in the case to 25.

The court acquitted former SHO Amanullah Marwat, Shoaib Shooter, Guda Hussain, Sadaqat Hussain, Riaz Ahmed, Raja Shamim and Mohsin Abbas.

The defence counsel noted that not a single witness had testified before the court that the encounter was staged.

The prosecution told the court that the seven accused had been absconders and surrendered after the ATC announced its verdict.

It also confirmed that former SSP Malir Rao Anwar and 18 other police officers and personnel had already been acquitted in earlier hearings. With the latest acquittals, all 25 accused nominated in the case have been cleared.

The verdict comes eight years after the gruesome killing of Naqeebullah Mehsud that triggered nationwide protests against the former SSP and his team.

Mehsud, a 27-year-old native of Waziristan also known as Naseemullah, was among three others accused of terrorism and killed on January 13, 2018, on the orders of then-Malir SSP Rao Anwar in what was later determined to be a fake encounter.

An inquiry committee headed by CTD Additional IG Sanaullah Abbasi subsequently submitted a report to the Supreme Court confirming that Naqeebullah had been killed in a fake encounter.

An FIR was registered against Rao Anwar and his associates after they failed to appear before investigators. Anwar and most members of his encounter team went into hiding following the formation of the probe committee.

An ATC in Karachi indicted Rao Anwar and other suspects for Naqeebullah’s murder in March 2019, with the accused denying all charges at the time of indictment.

However, in Jan 2023, an anti-terrorism court (ATC) acquitted all accused, including Malir’s former senior superintendent of police (SSP) Rao Anwar, in the high-profile murder case.

The court, while announcing that the verdict was reserved, said that the prosecution failed to prove the charges against Anwar and the co-accused.