KARACHI, Sept 5: An anti-terrorism court on Wednesday recorded the deposition of a prosecution witness in the kidnapping of Haji Abdul Ghaffar, a chicken dealer.

The kidnap victim was sitting in his shop located in Hussainabad when armed men took him away him from his shop in the limits of the Azizabad police station on May 7, 2007.

Judge Abdul Ghafoor Memon of ATC-II, who is conducting the trial, recorded the statement of Mohammad Raza, who is an eyewitness of the incident.

The witness identified the accused and said that he was present at the time the incident took place.

The court asked Special Public Prosecutor Niamat Ali Randhawa to produce the next prosecution witness for recording of his statement in the case. He said a judicial magistrate, Lubna Yousuf, would record her statement as a prosecution witness in the case on the next hearing.

According to the prosecution, Haji Abdul Ghaffar was sitting in his shop Waqas Chicken Centre when four persons came and asked him to come out.

As he came out of the shop, they forced him to sit in a car and took him away. On the second day, they demanded Rs15 million as a ransom for his release.

The accused later agreed to accept Rs700,000. They also agreed to get the amount in instalments. They released the kidnap victim on the payment of the first installment of Rs325,000.

The accused Mohammad Hanif, Mohammad Ali and Mohammad Imran were arrested on June 14 near the Tariq Road area when they had come to receive the second instalment.

According to the investigation officer of the Anti-Violent Crime Cell, Shafqat Mehmood, some of the accused including Iqbal Baloch and Shezad were still at large.

A case (FIR No 75/07) was registered against them in the Azizabad police station under Section 7 (e) ATA, r/w Section 365–A of the Pakistan Penal Code.