LAHORE: Shahrukh Jatoi has been released following the court’s decision of allowing Shahrukh Jatoi and other convicts in Shahzeb Khan murder case to post bail and the issuance of release orders by the court for the convicts upon the payment of the amount it set for the bail.
The orders were received by the jail officials on Saturday evening. Shahrukh Jatoi was held in custody at Jinnah Hospital and the release orders were dispatched from Central Jail to the hospital where a convoy and his friends awaited his release.
Earlier today, during a hearing of the re-trail of the case, District and Sessions Judge Imdad Hussain Khoso allowed the primary convict Shahrukh Jatoi and his three associates to post bail.
The court asked them to submit Rs 500,000 each for the bail. A lawyer paid the amount on behalf of Shahrukh Jatoi, Sajjad Ali Talpur and Siraj Ali Talpur . He also pushed the court to sign immediate orders for his client’s release. His request was granted by the court.
Shahzeb Khan’s father had also asked the court to free the convicts because he had forgiven his son’s killers “for the sake of Allah”. He had also asked for the case against them to be dropped by the court.
20-year-old Shahzeb Khan was the son of Police Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Aurangzeb Khan was killed in Defence Housing Authority on the night of December 24, 2012 when he was returning home along with his sister after attending a wedding.
He was killed after a fight with one of the suspects’ servants, who had verbally threatened and harassed his sister. As the prime accused in the incident belonged to powerful feudal families of Sindh, the incident triggered a nationwide debate over whether the country’s elite could be held accountable for crimes they committed. The then Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry then took suo motu notice of the incident.
