ATC hands down death sentence to two cops, life sentence to 6 others in Intizar murder case

Karachi: An anti-terrorism court (ATC) Monday awarded death sentence to two policemen, who were serving as the guard and driver of the former chief of the police’s Anti-Car Lifting Cell (ACLC), for killing teenager Intizar Ahmed in a "planned encounter".

The incident took place in the city's Defence Housing Authority neighbourhood in 2018.

The ATC judge found police constables Bilal Rasheed and Mohammad Daniyal, who were then posted as the gunman and driver of ex-ACLC chief (now DIG) Muqaddas Haider, guilty of shooting 19-year-old Intizar to death.

The court also awarded life imprisonment to six other ACLC officials, including then-station house officer Tariq Mehmood, former inspectors Tariq Raheem and Azhar Ahsan, then-head constable Shahid Usman and ex-constables Ghulam Abbas and Fawad Khan.

The  seventh accused Ghulam Abbas, who is former head constable, was acquitted for want of evidence.

Intizar, who was studying in Malaysia, had returned to Pakistan for his holidays.

The victim was travelling in his car with a friend, Madiha Kayani, on January 13, 2018, when policemen in plain clothes chased his car and shot him dead in DHA after he failed to stop the vehicle upon the cops' direction. Kayani had managed to escape the scene unscathed in a rickshaw.

Police registered a case under Sections 302 (premeditated murder), 324 (attempt to murder) 109 (abetment) and 34 (common intention) of the Pakistan Penal Code read with Section 7 (punishment for acts of terrorism) of the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997.

The case was registered at the Darakhshan police station on the complaint of the Intizar’s father.