KARACHI, Dec 6: An anti-terrorism court issued on Monday show-cause notice to the complainant in a kidnapping for ransom case for lodging a false case against defendants.
Judge Arshad Noor Khan of the ATC-3 had earlier on Aug 30 ordered release of two accused in the case after the police sought their acquittal as allegation against them was found baseless.
However, complainant Jan Alam moved a private complaint against the decision of the ATC-3 to the administrative judge of the ATCs, who sent the complaint to the trial court with a direction to hold a fresh inquiry into the matter.
The court initiated the inquiry and recorded statements of six witnesses, inlcuing the complainant and the alleged victim. However, the court concluded that the case against the defendants was false and baseless.
The case against Shamsher Khan and Nizamuddin was registered by the Manghopir police on the complaint of Jan Alam on July 3. The complainant reported to the police that the accused took away his brother, Abdul Wadood, on June 29 on the pretext of some business deal. Later, they demanded Rs2.2 million for his release.
The police registered a case against the accused under Section 343 of the Pakistan Penal Code for keeping the victim in wrongful confinement. After about 20 days of his purported kidnapping, the victim came to the police station. The police asked him to record his statement the next day.
However, the complainant's brother moved an application to the deputy inspector general of police, seeking investigation of the case by the Anti-violent Crime Cell (AVCC).
Subsequently, the AVCC investigated the case and found that the complainant had lodged a false case against the accused. The AVCC recorded the statements of the complainant, victim and one of their nephews.
The complainant deviated from the contents of the FIR when he recorded his statement before the AVCC. He had stated that he was at his house at the time of arrival of the accused in the FIR. However, he stated before the AVCC that he was somewhere in Hawkesbay when the accused took away his brother.
The victim told the AVCC that the accused took him away in their car. He said he immediately went unconscious when the accused put a handkerchief on his nose. He said he regained consciousness after three days and he did not know the place where he was kept for 21 days.
The AVCC also recorded the statement of Abdul Qayyum, nephew of the victim and his brother. Qayyum stated that his uncles had a monetary dispute with the accused. He said the two brothers had staged the drama of kidnapping for ransom.
Special public prosecutor Naimat Ali Randhawa submitted before the court that no evidence was found against the accused as the complainant lodged a false case against them.
The prosecutor also requested the court to initiate action against the complainant as he levelled a false allegation of kidnapping for ransom, an offence that involved capital punishment.
MASJID RAZA CASE: An anti-terrorism court put off the hearing of the Masjid Ali Raza bomb blast case against a worker of the banned Lashkar-i-Jhanvi after the cross-examination of an eye-witness by the defence counsel.
The judge, who had earlier reserved the cross-examination of Syed Mujahid Hussain on the last date of hearing fixed Tuesday for the cross-examination of another eye-witness, Syed Iqbal Hussain Rizvi.
During their examination-in-chief, the two prosecution witnesses stated to have seen accused Gul Hasan hugging the suicide bomber a little before the blast. PW Mujahid Hussain stated that he had gone to the office of Hermain Travel Agency in front of the Masjid Ali Raza on the day of the blast for collecting details of the visit of his sister and mother to religious places in Iran and Iraq.
He stated that the two men were standing at a distance of four or five steps from him, and he saw them embracing each other before the suicide bomber, carrying a black bag, entered into the mosque.
To a suggestion by defence counsel Mushtaq Ahmed, the prosecution witness denied that he was a stock witness. He said that he had never appeared as a prosecution witness in any case earlier.
He also contradicted the defence counsel's suggestion that he was deposing at the behest of the caretaker of the mosque. The defence counsel would cross-examine the second eye-witness, Syed Iqbal Hussain Rizvi, on Tuesday as the court rose for the day after four-hour cross-examination of PW Mujahid Hussain by him.
As many as 25 faithful had been killed and 37 others injured on May 31 this year when a suicide bomber blew himself inside the Masjid Ali Raza at Old Numaish. Accused Gul Hasan, arrested on June 13, is stated to have been the mastermind of bomb blasts at Haideri Mosque and Imambargah Ali Raza. He is alleged to have planned the attacks with absconding accused that included Asif Chuto and Mufti Obaid.
