KARACHI: An anti-corruption court on Wednesday directed the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to verify a letter regarding closure of investigation into a case relating to alleged embezzlement of funds in the tractor subsidy scheme.

The Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE) recently booked Shahzad Riaz, a dealer delivering tractors to growers and agent of Belarus Tractors, and three ofñcials of the agriculture department for allegedly misappropriating subsidy under the scheme from 2009 to 2012.

After having obtained protective ball from the high court, Shahzad filed in the trial court a pre-arrest bail application through his lawyer.

The applicant`s counsel Shaikh Jawaid Mir requested the court to quash the case because NAB had investigated the same case against his client and others in 2013 and closed the inquiry in May 2014. He alleged that his client was framed in the case at the behest of some highly-influential political figures.

Judge Gulshan Ara Chandio granted the suspect interim bail against a surety bond of Rs100,000 till May 25 and asked the director general of NAB, Sindh, to verify the letterissued by the bureauin2014 and submit a report by the next hearing.

Three directors of the agriculture department are on interim bail in the case and two other suspects in jail.

Suspect remanded in murder case A judicial magistrate on Wednesday remanded a suspect in police custody in a case pertaining to the murder of a teenager.

Ayaz Abdul Malik has been booked for killing 15-year-old Afghan boy Noor Agha outside his house in Azizabad on May 14.

Police said the suspect, who also heldAmerican nationality, was arrested from the airport on Tuesday when he was trying to escape from the country.

The judicial magistrate (Central) handed him over to police on physical remand for questioning till May 20.

Sentenced to death An antiterrorism court on Wednesday sentenced a man to death and acquitted two others in a case relating to the murder of a policeman.

Afaq Ahmed was found guilty of killing constable Tariq Abbasi in March 2010 in a Baldia Town locality while co-accused Shakeel Ahmed and Ashfaq Ahmed were acquitted for lack of evidence. The ATC-II judge issued the verdict after recording evidence of witnesses and concluding arguments from both sides.

The court observed that the case stood proved against Afaq for murdering the policeman as eyewitness constable Mohammad Fayyaz deposed against the accused and identified him as the shooter.

However, the case of co-accused was on different footing and the eyewitness did not depose that they had asked Afaq to kill the policeman, it added.

According to the prosecution, the suspects were riding a motorcycle when two patrolling policemen asked them to stop since a ban on pillion-riding was in place.

When the accused tried to flee, the policemen chased them and Afaq opened fire that left Abbasi dead. The accused were later arrested and the prosecution said they were drug peddlers.

A case was lodged against them under Sections 302 (punishment for premeditated murder), 353 (criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty), 324 (attempt to commit murder and 34 (common intention) of the Pakistan Penal Code, read with Section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act 1997, on a complaint of the deceased`s brother at the Baldia police station.