Karsaz accident suspect Natasha Danish acquitted in drug case

A Karachi court acquitted Natasha Danish on Friday in a drug case linked to the August 2024 Karsaz Road accident, citing insufficient evidence against her. Judicial Magistrate (East) ruled the prosecution had failed to prove she was driving under the influence of methamphetamine when her vehicle struck several people.

Why was Natasha Danish acquitted in the Karsaz drug case?

Judicial Magistrate (East) said the prosecution had failed to prove Danish was under the influence of methamphetamine, commonly known as crystal meth, while driving. Her lawyer, Fawad Ali Khichi, said chemical and blood tests found no traces of the drug. He alleged police had tampered with her samples and that the investigating officer had hidden the blood test report.

The drug case was registered under Section 11 of the Prohibition (Enforcement of Hadd) Order of 1979, and had remained separate from the murder proceedings. A judicial magistrate had already dismissed Danish's plea seeking acquittal in the drug case in May 2025.

What happened in the Karsaz Road accident?

On Aug. 19, 2024, a speeding Toyota Land Cruiser driven by Danish hit three motorcycles and another car on Karsaz Road. The crash killed 60-year-old Imran Arif and his 22-year-old daughter, Amna, and wounded three others. Danish was arrested at the scene and booked on murder charges, and a separate case was later registered after medical reports reportedly indicated she was under the influence of methamphetamine while driving.

Sindh Inspector General of Police Ghulam Nabi Memon later said her medical report, conducted at the request of the victims' counsel, showed she was under the influence of crystal meth while driving. Police then registered a separate first information report under Section 11 of the Prohibition (Enforcement of Hadd) Order of 1979.

What other legal cases arose from the Karsaz accident?

A sessions court granted Danish bail in the murder case on Sept. 6, 2024, after the victims' family pardoned her without any blood money. Her bail requests in the drug case followed a different course, with a judicial magistrate and a sessions court separately rejecting her pleas that month.

Judicial Magistrate (East) Muhammad Raza Ansari had observed that her lawyer's claim of sample manipulation was false. State prosecutor Syed Khursheed Abbas Bukhari opposed her bail application before the sessions court, arguing the final charge sheet had yet to be submitted.

Danish later approached the Sindh High Court through her lawyer, and Justice Muhammad Karim Khan Agha approved her bail in the drug case after hearing arguments from both sides. Two days before that hearing, Karachi police had filed a charge sheet against her before a judicial magistrate in the drug case.

The murder case was resolved separately on Oct. 31, 2024, when a district and sessions court acquitted Danish after her lawyer said the court had accepted a compromise application between the parties. Friday's acquittal clears the final criminal case arising from the Karsaz accident.