Witness failed to identify him in court, no one else came forward.

On Tuesday, Shahnawaz alias Ajmal Pahari, was produced before the additional district and sessions judge, central, Rashida Siddiqui, in a murder case.

The court gave the acquittal orders under the Criminal Procedure Code Section 265-K, in which the charges are groundless and the court decided that the accused cannot be given punishment. The court then acquits the accused to save time.

Pahari was accused in the murder of a man named Junaid Alam Siddiqui alias Ihtisham, son of Rafi Siddiqui, in 2005. Junaid was killed in Jahangirabad, and Pahari and another man, Wasim Boss, were nominated in the FIR (134/2005) lodged at Rizvia police station.

The complainant, who was a witness to the murder, failed to identify Pahari and no other witnesses appeared in court. Since the challan was also submitted after six years, Pahari was acquitted.

Due to security threats, he was brought to the city courts amid strict security with a large number of policemen deployed around the complex.

The Sindh police’s Crime Investigation Department (CID) arrested Pahari from New Karachi on March 28. His name became synonymous with fear not only for his numerous deadly feats, but also recently for extortion and land grabbing in the city. Police officials had kept a tab on his activities for a long time but they admit that he had been set free numerous times because he was strongly backed by one political party. The arrest became possible after this party “suspended” its support, police say.

This was, however, not the first time that Pahari was arrested. In 1997, an anti-terrorism court had declared Pahari a proclaimed offender (along with a high-profile political leader and founder of a party) in a case related to the killing of four American Union Texas employees along with their Pakistani driver. Back then, the reward for Pahari was Rs1 million and he was nabbed by the Central Investigation Agency of the Karachi police in 2000.

However, within five years, Pahari was acquitted in all cases and was released in 2005. Since then, Anti-Extremism Cell SSP Omar Shahid claims that the suspect has committed 58 more cold-blooded murders. And to add insult to injury, Pahari has also made millions of rupees through his network of target killers and extortionists, the officer added.

The elusive criminal was on the run but was eventually nabbed by the authorities in a joint operation conducted by Shahid and Counter Terrorism Unit SSP Chaudhry Aslam Khan from New Karachi’s Eid Gah ground Sector 5-D in March. When asked whether he was sure Pahari would not walk free again, Shahid had told The Express Tribune that the police had done its job by nabbing the notorious killer and now it was for the investigation officers to build a strong case against the culprit in court. He said it was for the courts to decide the fate of the suspect, who is believed to have committed dozens of murders since his release in 2005.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 1^st, 2011.