Zubair Qureshi
A Session Court of Islamabad has convicted two men, Bait Ullah and Gul Siddique, for the murder of Major Mohammad Laraib of the Special Services Group (SSG). The army officer was killed last year on Nov 11 when he was walking in the F-9 Park.
Additional sessions judge Muhammad Ali Warriach has sentenced Baitullah to death while Gul Siddique has been given life imprisonment. The judge also imposed a fine of Rs500,000 on each of the accused.
Maj Laraib was stationed in Attock and had come to the Capital city in an official capacity. After completing his task he reached the F-9 Park along with a friend where the two suspects in a robbery attempt shot him dead. Later, they fled from the scene.
Police officials had arrested two suspects the next month by mobile phone tracing.
In a written order issued on Saturday, the judge has noted police had recovered an empty shell of a 30-bore pistol from the crime scene.
When Siddique was arrested and searched, he also had a 30-bore pistol on him, the verdict said. During his physical remand, Bait Ullah revealed details which led the police to another 30-bore pistol, which forensic tests showed was the weapon used to commit the crime. Further revelations by both suspects also led the police to recover the major’s original computerized national identity card (CNIC), Rs2,000 which were stolen from him and a brown purse that belonged to the deceased’s friend, the judgment said.
The judge has also pointed out that the officer’s friend’s testimony in which she said that on the night of Nov 21, 2019, Maj Laraib had picked her up from her hostel and they had gone to have coffee, and later to the F-9 park.
While they were in the park, both suspects appeared on the scene and Bait Ullah asked the major to “hand over whatever you have”. She said Bait Ullah had kicked the major twice and asked him to hand over his wallet. However, upon his resistance, Bait Ullah shot the major in the head.
From the evidence produced by the police, it has been proven that the accused committing robbery and murder, hence they are held guilty and convicted under section 302-6/34 PPC as Tazeer read with 397, the order says.
“The recovery of the snatched articles (purse and CNIC) have also proved against both the accused persons. They are also held guilty of retaining stolen property and are convicted under 411 PPC,” the order stated.
