An anti-terrorism court said on Thursday that the murders of Naqeebullah Mehsud and three other men were extrajudicial killings.

The court also quashed the five cases against them. The police had filed cases of possession of weapons, terrorism and other charges against the four men.

The inquiry committee submitted its report to the ATC during the hearing on Thursday. The report said that the committee and the investigating officers have examined the site of the killings. The team failed to find any bullet holes or signs of any bomb explosions at the poultry farm where Naqeebullah and the others were killed. The report said that the accusations against Naqeebullah and the others are “baseless.”

Former Malir SSP Rao Anwar and his aides were present at the site, it added.

The court approved the report.

Related: Rao Anwar removed from post after committee finds Naqeeb innocent

Twenty-seven-year-old Naqeebullah, Sabir, Nazir Khan, and Ishaq were killed at a farmhouse Karachi’s Shah Latif Town on January 13, 2018. Former SSP Anwar, the prime suspect in the case, alleged that the suspects were involved in terrorism cases and were affiliated with terrorist outfit Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) and the militant Islamic State (IS).

Soon after, Naqeebullah’s friends and family shared his pictures on social media, demanding justice. His family said he was killed in a fake police encounter.

A report, compiled by an investigation team, called the encounter ‘fake’. Anwar, who took the credit for the ‘encounter’ earlier, denied involvement in the case.

Anwar, DSP Qamar Ahmed Sheikh, and 13 others were later arrested in the case. Shah Latif SHO Amanullah Marwat and Inspector Shoaib Sheikh are still absconding.

Related: Police report finds Rao Anwar guilty of fake encounter

A new JIT, headed by AIG Aftab Pathan, was formed on March 21, 2018. The new investigation revealed that the police were present at the farmhouse for over 19 hours. They had lunch and dinner there too. There was no evidence at the site to prove that the the four men fired at the police.

According to the forensic report, the weapons were placed in the suspects’ hands after they were killed. All four were killed in the same room and two bodies were moved to another room.