02 October 2004	Saturday	16 Shaban 1425

KARACHI, Oct 1: An anti-terrorism court adjourned the hearing of a kidnapping-cum-murder case against two accused after recording the statements of two prosecution witnesses.

The judge fixed Saturday for the next hearing after the statements of Dr Imran Sarwar and Mohammed Jamil, a carpenter, who were also cross examined by the defence counsel.

Khurrum Mushtaq and Ather Mehmood are being tried for kidnapping Raghib Hussain for ransom and killing him. According to the prosecution, the kidnapping was planned by a victim's friend, Sheeraz, who posed himself as a girl on the internet and asked him for a date.

Raghib drove his Suzuki FX car to Rado Centre in Gulistan-i-Jauhar, where Sheeraz along with a girl got into his car and kidnapped him at gunpoint on April 1. They allegedly took him into a bungalow in Gulistan-i-Jauhar, where accused Khurrum, Asif, and Ather were already present.

Asif allegedly injected a syringe in Raghib's chest as the other accused caught hold of him. After a little while, the victim went unconscious. According to prosecution, the kidnappers phoned the victim's mother and demanded one million rupees for the release of her son.

In the evening, they again phoned his mother and told that her son was lying in unconscious condition near Singapore Tower. The victim was shifted to a hospital, where he died during treatment on April 16. His mother informed the Gulistan-i-Jauhar police about the incident.

On July 26, Sub-inspector Adnan arrested accused Khurrum and Ather. Three accused are still absconding and the court issued non-bailable warrants for their arrest.

Prosecution witness Mohammed Jamil stated that he was a carpenter and used to work in several bungalows of the vicinity. He said that he was returning to his house on April 1 at 6pm when he saw two young men dragging an unconscious man into a car parked in front of Bungalow No. 7-76.

The witness stated that the two young men told him that their friend was ill and they were taking him to hospital. They also asked him to help them in getting the unconscious man into the car.

Mohammed Jamil stated that around four months after the incident he saw the two young men and police in front of the bungalow. He said that there were several people in front of the house and one of them told him that a young man was murdered at this house some time ago.

The other witness, Dr Imran Sarwar of Civil Hospital who was member of the medical board which conducted the autopsy of the victim after disinterring corpse, submitted the autopsy report. The report stated that the victim died due to trauma caused by his cardiac failure.

BLAST CASE: Judge Feroze Mehmood Bhatti of the ATC-2 put off the hearing of a bomb blast case against an accused after recording the statement of a prosecution witness.

Accused Abdur Razzaq is being prosecuted for causing a bomb blast at Javed Petrol Pump on May 15, 2003 within Garden police limits. The judge fixed Oct 9 for the next hearing after recording the statement of Fareed, the cashier of the pump.

DONATION CASE: An anti-terrorism court recorded the statement of Mohammad Ashraf, activist of banned Khudamul Islam, who was convicted in donation case, adds PPI.

The statement was recorded on direction of the division bench of Sindh High Court, which during hearing of his appeal against conviction, had granted his application and ordered that additional evidence could be recorded by the trial court by examining applicant under Section 340(2) of the CrPC.

The appellant denied the prosecution charges and stated that he had nothing to do with donation receipts nor he signed on it. He stated that police had towed his vehicle to police station, whose engine had been seized for more than year.

He along with other accused was prosecuted on charge of collecting 'Jihad fund' outside a mosque in Mehmoodabad and carrying out their party activities despite the ban imposed.

The constitutional petition against his detention and Nazir report were also submitted before the court. Defence counsel Maqboolur Rehman, during hearing of the appeal, had sought permission to submit constitutional petition No.1466/2003 with his disposal order and Nazir report as additional evidences. According to him, these material had not been brought on record during the trial.