KARACHI, May 26: An anti-terrorism court sentenced on Thursday two accused to suffer life in jail for kidnapping and murdering a 20-year-old man on two counts. Judge Arshad Noor Khan of the ATC-3 also ordered the confiscation of properties of accused Sheeraz Uddin and Asif alias Sajjad, worth Rs100,000 each for kidnapping victim Raghib Hussain for ransom under Section 365-A of the Pakistan Penal Code.
The victim was kidnapped and killed by a gang of five, one of whom posing as a girl on the internet had talked him into going on a date. The judge also sentenced the two accused to suffer life imprisonment for killing the victim under Section 302 of the PPC.
A fine of Rs100,000 each was also imposed on the convicts, who would have to undergo an additional five-year term in case of default on payment. Earlier, on October 18 last year, the same court had sentenced two accused -– Khurrum Mushtaq and Ather Ali — to suffer life imprisonment on two counts of kidnapping and murder of the victim, a 20-year-old student.
Accused Sheeraz Uddin and Asif, who had been declared absconder, were later arrested in December last year. The victim was kidnapped around 11:30am on April 1 this year and later in the evening he was found unconscious near Singapore Towers in Sharea Faisal police area.
He was first taken to Jinnah Hospital and then was shifted to Liaquat Hospital. On April 2, he told his mother that he was kidnapped by his friend, Sheeraz Uddin, who posed him as a girl on the internet. The victim told the family that on March 31 the imposter asked him into going on a date. He stated that he reached the Rado Centre in Gulistan-i-Jauhar in his Suzuki FX car. He said that Sheeraz along with a girl got into his car and they kidnapped him at gunpoint.
According to the victim, the couple took him to a bungalow in Gulistan-i-Jauhar where accused Khurrum, Asif, and Ather were already present. He stated that accused Asif injected drug in his chest as the other accused caught hold of him. He said that after a little while Asif injected another syringe in his chest and he went unconscious.
The victim’s mother, who also appeared as a prosecution witness in the trial court, stated that her brother had seen her son going with a man and a woman in his car. She said around 1:30 pm, the kidnappers phoned her and demanded Rs1 million for the release of her son.
She said that around 8:30am the kidnappers again phoned her to tell that her son was lying near Singapore Tower. The victim died at the hospital on April 16 and his mother informed the Gulistan-i-Jauhar police about the incident.
Sub-inspector Umeed Ali Meerani visited her and took her statement. However, on the same evening the SI was killed in an attack on the Gulsitan-i-Jauhar police station.
The investigation of the case was assigned to SI Aslam Jat, who inspected the bungalow and seized two disposable used syringes. The IO also recorded the statement of the owner of the bungalow, who had rented it out to accused Sheeraz, son of a senior official of the Sui Southern Gas Company and resident of the Defence Housing Society.
