Ex-Nine Zero security incharge acquitted in 1997 murder case of former KESC MD

An anti-terrorism court on Tuesday acquitted two accused, including Mohammad Minhaj Qazi, former security in-charge of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) headquarters, Nine Zero, in the 1997 Shahid Hamid murder case.

Qazi and Mehboob Ghufran alias Athar had been facing trial for alleged involvement in the triple murder of the then managing director of the Karachi Electricity Supply Corporation (KESC), his driver and a guard in DHA on July 5, 1997.

The ATC judge announced his order after recording evidence and final arguments from defence and prosecution sides, acquitting the accused for want of evidence.

The court ordered jail authorities to release both the accused if they are not required in any other case.

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According to the prosecution, MQM hit-man Saulat Mirza, who was arrested at Karachi airport in December 1998, confessed to the murder of former KESC chief Shahid Hamid and named his accomplices.

The motive behind the former KESC managing director’s killing was his decision to remove MQM-affiliated employees from the power company.

In 1999, an anti-terrorism court dsentenced Mirza to death for the crime. He was executed at Machh Jail in Balochistan on 12 May 2015.

The murder case was registered at Darakhshan police station on the complaint of Shahid Hamid’s widow.