LAHORE: The Lahore High Court directed the police to submit the travel history of former state minister Siddique Kanju’s son Mustafa Kanju, who exited the country soon after his acquittal in a murder case following a ‘compromise’ with the complainant, media reports stated.
A division bench compromising of Justice Sadaqat Ali Khan and Justice Shehram Sarwar Chaudhry was a state appeal against the acquittal of Mustafa Kanju and three other convicts in the Zain murder case.
Non-bailable arrest warrants of all the acquitted convicts had been previously issued for not appearing before the bench despite repeated summons.
Additional Prosecutor General Abdul Samad informed the bench that Kanju had left the country on October 30, 2015 and summons issued by the court were not served on him.
He further informed that the three other convicts, namely Sadiq, Ikramullah and Asif Rehman were in Lucky Marwat and would be presented before the bench on the enxt hearing.
The bench adjourned further hearing for a week and directed the capital city police officer of Lahore to submit the records of Kanju’s international travels.
On October 27, 2016, an anti-terrorism court had acquitted Mustafa Kanju and his guards of the charges of killing 16-year-old Zain and injuring Hasnain. The court had acquitted the suspects after legal heirs of the victims ‘pardoned’ them.
The Supreme Court had taken a suo motu notice of the acquittal and ordered the prosecution department to challenge it.