Eight awarded death sentences in Chauntra murder case

RAWALPINDI: A court in Rawalpindi on Tuesday awarded multiple death sentences to eight suspects convicted in a high-profile 2020 massacre case in the Chauntra area, where nine members of a family — including women and children — were shot dead over an old enmity.

Additional Sessions Judge Majid Hussain Gadhi announced the verdict, handing down five death sentences each to convicts identified as Danish, Babar, Akram, Rab Nawaz, Abid, Ashraf and others for their involvement in the killings.

The court found the accused guilty of carrying out the brutal attack on July 25, 2020, in which five women, three minor girls and one man were killed in what police described as a targeted assault linked to a longstanding family dispute.

According to the prosecution, the convicts stormed a house in Chauntra village and opened indiscriminate fire, killing nine people on the spot and injuring three others.

Police had registered the case on the complaint of Nazar Abbas under sections 302 (murder), 324 (attempted murder), 148, 149, 449 of the Pakistan Penal Code and provisions of anti-terrorism laws. A total of 15 nominated suspects and 10 unidentified persons were named in the FIR.

The prosecution said investigations were carried out by multiple police teams under successive City Police Officers (CPOs), with support from Elite Force and Rangers, before submission of the challan in court.

The Chauntra police had arrested several suspects, while key accused Rab Nawaz and his son Danish Nawaz remained absconding for a period before being traced.

In the same case, death sentences were awarded to four main convicts, including Rab Nawaz, Danish Nawaz, Muhammad Ashraf and Muhammad Aqib, for their direct role in the killings.

In that earlier verdict, another convict Ikram Nawaz was handed life imprisonment on multiple counts, while several others were acquitted due to lack of sufficient evidence.

The latest judgment further strengthens the earlier convictions in one of the most brutal family feud killings reported in the area, which had drawn widespread public outrage due to the killing of women and children.