KARACHI: An anti-terrorism court, here on Tuesday awarded death sentence to two accused including Rehman alias Bhola and Zubair alias Charya in Baldia factory fire case.

The anti-terrorism court, in its verdict, acquitted Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) leader Rauf Siddiqui in the Baldia factory inferno case for want of evidence along with Umar Hasan Qadri, Dr Abdul Sattar Khan and Iqbal Adeeb Khanum.

The verdict was announced after eight years of the incident. Moreover, three gatekeepers of the factory - Fazal Mehmood, Arshad Mehmood, and Ali Mohammad - and manager Shahrukh were handed life imprisonment for abetment.

Former in-charge of MQM's Karachi Tanzeemi Committee Hammad Siddiqui and Ali Hassan Qadri were declared proclaimed offenders over their perpetual absence from the trial proceedings.

The jail officials produced two accused persons including Rehman alias Bhola and Zubair alias Charya before the ATC in Baldia factory inferno case amidst the strict measures.

It is pertinent to mention here that on 5 July, the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) had stated in its conclusive report that the Baldia Town factory inferno incident was 'a terrorism act', rejecting it as an accident where more than 250 people had been burnt alive on September 11 - 2012 in Karachi.

The investigators had revealed in the 27-page report that the factory had been torched over non-payment of Rs200 million as extortion money.

According to the prosecution, the factory was set on fire by men after factory owners had refused to pay extortion money. Throughout the hearings, the statements of some 400 witnesses were recorded, with the factory owners presenting theirs via video link from Dubai.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2020