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KARACHI, Sept 1: An anti-terrorism court in Karachi on Wednesday awarded death sentence to the watchman of a building for his involvement in a kidnapping and murder case.
The 30-year-old watchman of the Nadeem Arcade was handed down the capital punishment for murdering a seven-year-old boy. The judge also imposed a fine of Rs100,000 on Shafquat Hussain.
Judge Arshad Noor Khan of the ATC-3 sentenced him to death and ordered confiscation of entire movable and immovable properties of Shafquat Hussain for kidnapping the boy for ransom.
The accused, hailing from Azad Kashmir, had kidnapped Umair on April 10 around 5:30pm as the boy came downstairs from his second-floor apartment. The watchman took the boy to his room. He hit the victim's head with a club when the boy insisted on leaving the room. The boy died instantly and the watchman dumped the body in the room.
The accused contacted the family on phone and demanded Rs500,000 from victim's father, Mohammed Hanif, a car dealer, though he had already killed the boy and disposed of the body in a nearby drain.
The alleged kidnapper kept on calling the victim's family from different PCOs. He also called the car dealer twice at different places to deliver the ransom, but he himself never turned up.
Finally, he asked the victim's father to place the money under a wooden box lying inside the compound of Nadeem Arcade. This led to his arrest on May 21 as the police found the box belonging to the watchman.
Special public prosecutor Naimat Ali Randhawa examined in all six prosecution witnesses. Following his arrest, the watchman also led to the recovery of the victim's body from the drain. The police also seized weapon of the offence and shoes of the victim from his room.
Besides, his confessional statement before a judicial magistrate was another significant piece of evidence against him. The circumstantial evidence, corroborated with his confessional statements, and the chain of facts proved the prosecution case against him.
RAAD CASE: The additional district and sessions judge, South, Syed Saeed Hasan, put off the hearing of the Iqbal Raad murder case after recording the statement of a prosecution witness.
Nine workers of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, including Ajmal Pahari, Nadeem Marbalwala, Faisal alias Lamba, Kaleem Commando alias Chhota Munna and Sohail alias DC, are being tried in the case.
The judge fixed Sept 14 for the next hearing after the statement by the MLO, who conducted the autopsy on Mr Raad's body. Iqbal Raad, a former advocate-general of Sindh who was one of the defence counsel for former prime minister Nawaz Sharif in the Oct 12 plane hijacking case, was shot dead along with two others on March 10, 2000, in his office near Passport Office, Saddar.
Shahzad Khatri, son of late Justice Adil Hussain Khatri, and Ghulam Abbas, the peon at the office of Mr Raad, were the two other victims in the attack. The Artillery Maidan police, which had initially registered a case against unknown culprits on the complaint of Mr Raad's son, Nabil Raad, later charged the Muttahida men in the case.
MURDER CASE: The additional district and sessions judge, South, Abrar Hussain F Memon, adjourned the hearing of the Sajjad Hussain murder case as the defence lawyers did not turn up.
The former PSM chief was shot dead on Sept 11, 1998, in Defence while he was on his way to home. The police had initially registered a case against two unknown motorcyclists.
Mohammed Khan Chachar, Saleemuddin alias Sallu, Dr. Nisar, Dr. Zafar Mirza and Sohail Panga are accused in the case. Asif Ali Zardari, the interned husband of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, has been acquitted in this case. The judge issued notices to the defence attorneys to appear before the court on Sept 30.
