KARACHI: An Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) in Karachi has acquitted two suspects in the 1997 murder case of former Karachi Electric Supply Corporation (KESC) Managing Director Shahid Hamid, citing lack of evidence.
The prosecution failed to prove the charges against the two accused, Minhaj Qazi and Mehboob Ghufran, who were allegedly linked to the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) London.
The court ordered their immediate release, noting that neither suspect is named in any other pending cases.
According to the defense lawyer, Mushtaq Ahmed, Minhaj Qazi had already been acquitted in all prior cases. He argued that the First Information Report (FIR) and the complainant’s statement were vague, with the complainant only mentioning seeing Saulat Mirza, another accused, outside the vehicle at the time of the incident.
Ahmed stated that there was no mention of Minhaj Qazi in the FIR and no concrete evidence linking him to the crime.
The prosecution stated that Shahid Hamid, along with his driver and guard, was killed in a targeted shooting in Karachi’s Defence Housing Authority on July 5, 1997. Saulat Mirza, a key accused in the case and an MQM worker, was convicted, and executed in 2015 at Machh Jail in Balochistan.
Minhaj Qazi and Mehboob Ghufran were the remaining suspects in the case, which has now concluded with their acquittal after nine years of trial.
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