An anti-terrorism court (ATC), on Tuesday, awarded death sentence to 20 gangsters for killing six policemen in Rajanpur Kutcha area in 2016.
The convicts included members of the notorious Chotu gang along with its ring leader, Ghulam Rasool alias Chotu; Sikhani gang; Inder gang and Changwani gang among others. The court handed life imprisonment on 19 counts to two minor convicts, Qasim and Abdul Samad.
On April 13, 2016, police teams from Bangla Ichcha police station and other stations in Rajanpur district, were attacked by criminals as they conducted an operation against the Chotu gang in a forest area. As many as six policemen were martyred in the attack while another eight were injured as the gangsters took 24 policemen as their hostage. The court officials noted that these captives were released by the criminals after nine days.
The convicts included Ghulam Rasool alias Chotu, his brother Pyara, Nadir, Deen Muhammad, Khalid alias Khaldi, Ishaq alias Bilal, Akram alias Akri, Ghulam Haidar, Hakim, Razzaq, Majid, Nasir, Sher Khan, Jumma alias Bhutta, Rasheed, Behram, Bashir, Abdul Wahid, Mujeeb-ur-Rahman, and Hussain Bakhsh.
The convicts were awarded death sentence on 18 counts, six under Section 302 of Pakistan’s Penal Code, six under Section Seven of the Anti-Terrorism Act and another six under Section Three of Explosive Substance Act 1908. The court also slapped them with Rs 6.2 million fine each or additional imprisonment in case of non-payment. All the 20 accused would also undergo life imprisonment.
Published in Daily Times, March 13th 2019.
