KARACHI: A sessions court on Tuesday framed charges against alleged drug baroness Anmol Pinky in a case pertaining to the death of a man due to overdose in Lyari.

The district and sessions judge (South) on Tuesday took up the matter for indictment, while the suspect was produced through video link.

The judge read out charges against her. However, the suspect pleaded not guilty and opted to contest the charges.

The court adjourned the hearing until September 3 and summoned prosecution witnesses for recording their statements.

Initially, the case was registered at Baghdadi police station on May 9 on murder charges; however, earlier in the final challan, which was filed before the judicial magistrate (South), the Investigation Officer (IO) had dropped murder charges in the case and included Section 322 (manslaughter) of the Pakistan Penal Code on the basis of the medical examination report of the deceased.

Pinky was nominated in this case on the statement of the complainant, who stated in the FIR that he saw the body of a man lying on the footpath. He further stated that a small tin box was recovered from the deceased, on which the name of suspect Pinky was printed.

However, a source familiar with the matter told Dawn that despite the prosecution pointing out serious lacunae in the investigation and advising the IO to continue the probe, the IO instead charged Pinky with manslaughter without having “substantial evidence” against her in the final challan.

The source further said that the earlier defects highlighted by the prosecution had still not been addressed by the IO.

The source further stated that the identity and whereabouts of the deceased’s relatives had still not been established, adding that, as per the medical report, narcotic substances were detected in the deceased’s blood samples, but the post-mortem examination did not determine the exact cause of death as no poisonous or toxic substances were found.

Published in Dawn, August 19th, 2026