A Karachi court on Tuesday acquitted Sindh Senior Minister for Information, Transport and Mass Transit Sharjeel Inam Memon and five other accused in a case that had remained pending for eight years. The charges centred on alleged liquor bottles recovered from Memon’s hospital room.
The Judicial Magistrate South delivered the verdict, clearing all six accused for lack of evidence.
Court finds prosecution could not prove its charges
The other accused were Memon’s servants and prison officials. The court held that police and prosecutors had not established the charges against them and had produced no solid proof of their involvement.
Memon’s lawyer told the court that forensic and medical reports showed the seized bottles held honey and olive oil, not liquor. The defence said the accusations were baseless and that the forensic findings contradicted the police claim of a liquor recovery.
How a 2018 hospital visit triggered the liquor case
The matter traces back to September 1, 2018, when Mian Saqib Nisar, then Chief Justice of Pakistan, made an unannounced visit to a hospital in Shirin Jinnah Colony, Karachi. Memon was being treated there while in judicial custody, and the room had been declared a sub-jail.
During that visit, the then chief justice said three bottles of liquor had been found in the room. Memon was subsequently moved to Karachi Central Jail, and Boat Basin police registered a case against him and his three employees under Section 4 of the Prohibition (Enforcement of Hadd) Order, 1979, concerning possession of intoxicants.
Two arrests and the honey and cooking oil claim
Two people were later taken into custody over the alleged recovery. One of them reportedly claimed that the bottles contained honey and cooking oil rather than liquor, a position that the court’s eventual acquittal of all accused reflected in part of its reasoning.
