KARACHI: The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Thursday set aside the sentence awarded to two men in extortion and illicit weapon cases, ordering the jail authorities to release both the persons.
Adnan and Salman Khan had been sentenced to 10 years imprisonment each by the Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) on the charges of possessing weapons without a license and extorting a businessman within the limits of the Bahadurabad police station.
According to the prosecution, both the convicts were involved in taking Rs0.5 million from a local businessman as extortion amount. Besides this, the law enforcers had also claimed to recover illicit weapons from their possession.
The convicts, through their counsel, challenged the punishment awarded by the trial court and submitted that the prosecution had failed to submit any concrete evidence against them. Their counsel told the judges that the ATC had not followed due procedure while convicting his clients.
The court was requested to set aside the judgment of the trial court and to order the release of both the convicts. After hearing the arguments from the defence and prosecution side, the SHC annulled Adnan and Salman’s conviction and ordered their release if they were not arrested in any other case.