NEWS DESK
KARACHI: The Sindh High Court (SHC) earlier Monday overturned the life- sentences awarded to four persons in the murder case of Parveen Rehman.
SHC ordered the release of Abdul Raheem Swati, Ayaz Swati, Amjad Hussain Khan and Ahmed Khan aka Pappu Kashmiri, following their appeal against the verdict of an anti-terrorism court (ATC).
In December last year, ATC awarded the four double life sentences after they were found guilty of murdering the social activist.
Meanwhile, the fifth accused, Imran Swati, was sentenced to seven years in prison for acting as an accomplice.
The court directed the relevant authorities to release the four people in case they were not wanted in any other case.
The Murder Case
Parveen, who was the director of the Orangi Pilot Project, was murdered in a gun attack on her car at the Banaras flyover in Karachi as she was going home from her office on March 13, 2013.
The case was initially registered at a Karachi police station under Section 302 of premeditated murder and 34 common intention of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC). The Supreme Court of Pakistan ordered a judicial inquiry into the case which was conducted by the then-district and sessions judge Ghulam Mustafa Memon. Subsequently, Section 7 — the punishment of acts of terrorism — of the Anti-Terrorism Act 1997 was also added to the FIR.
A joint investigation team (JIT) was constituted to probe the case which revealed that Rehman was murdered by hitmen for Rs4 million.
It was found out that Raheem Swati and local Awami National Party leader Ayaz Swati asked the social worker to hand over a piece of land to them.
However, after she refused, the ANP leader allegedly paid a banned militant organization to murder the social activist.
