KARACHI – A court on Saturday sentenced a former Sindh government officer to 17 years’ rigorous imprisonment in a case relating to attempt of murder, illegal confinement and robbery.
Additional District and Sessions Judge Sagheer Ahmed Shaikh handed down the verdict to former agriculture officer Ilyas Hulio after examining five prosecution witnesses. According to the prosecution, Hulio along with four unidentified accomplices on October 29, 2009 had kidnapped Rashid Rajar, the private secretary of Culture Minister Sassui Palejo, looted valuables from him and escaped after injuring him.
Rajar lodged a compliant against Hulio and his aides at the Darakhshan police station. The accused was arrested from his hotel room on October 30 and the looted valuables and a pistol recovered from his possession. The court convicted the culprit for seven years imprisonment on attempt to murder, five years for illegally confinement and five years for robbery under Sec 324, 397 and 363 of the criminal procedure code.
Sources told Pakistan Today that in the mid of 2009, then agriculture officer Hulio had written love letters to Palejo and on the complaint of the minister, the Sindh government suspended him from service. However, Hulio brought the matter on the media. After registration of the case, the Karachi police arrested the accused from his native village in Shahdadkot on the next day of the incident, they added.
It is worth mentioning that the Sindh government had appointed senior lawyer Advocate Haq Nawaz Talpur as the special public prosecutor in the case. Hulio has been confined in the Karachi Central Jail and could not produce any witnesses in his defence. His council Advocate Abbasi was also provided by NGO Legal Aid on the directions of the court.
Three alleged target killers remanded: Judicial Magistrate Zabeha Khattak remanded three people allegedly involved in targeted killings on Saturday into the custody of Gulistan-e-Jauhar police for further investigation. Police had booked Mudassar alias Chief, Murtaza alis Murtoo and Shahab on charges of murder, attempt to murder, police encounter and other heinous crimes.
According to the prosecution, the suspects were allegedly involved in murdering three ANP workers Shahid Khan, Khayal Wazeer and Saleem Durani and have also confessed many other heinous crimes. The Gulistan-e-Jauhar police had claimed to have arrested the suspects from Pehlwan Goth.
According to sources, Mudassar along with his accomplices was arrested on a tip-off from the Super Highway two days ago by the Rangers and a large quantity of illegal weapons recovered from their possession. They were handed over to the Hyderabad police and then to the city police.
