April 17, 2008	Thursday	Rabi-us-Sani 10, 1429

KARACHI, April 16: An anti-terrorism court on Wednesday recorded final arguments from both sides in a case of kidnap for ransom of a 13-year-old boy.

Judge Haq Nawaz Baloch of ATC-V, who is conducting the trial, reserved the judgment for pronouncement till April 28.

According to the prosecution, Yaseen Ghori, Arshad, Aurangzeb and Babu had allegedly kidnapped 13-year-old Ameer Abdal, son of Mohammad Iqbal, on July 31, 2007, in Solider Bazaar police limits and demanded Rs30 million as ransom. But they reduced the ransom amount to Rs2.5 million later and asked the victim’s family to deliver the amount at a specific point near Sohrab Goth. The father of the kidnapped boy along with a police party reached the location where police caught hold of a suspect, Aurangzeb. During initial interrogation, the suspect disclosed the whereabouts of the boy and his kidnappers. On his information, a team of the anti-violent crime unit raided a house in Machhar Colony on Aug 2, 2007 and recovered the boy after a shootout. Police arrested Yaseen Ghori, Arshad and Babu and recovered illegal weapons from their possession.

On the complaint of Mohammad Iqbal, a case (FIR No 94/2007) was registered against the accused under Section 365-A/34 of the Pakistan Penal Code at Solider Bazaar police station. Two other cases were also lodged against the accused under 13-D of the Arms Ordinance and Sections 353 and 324 of the PPC.

In their final arguments, defence counsel Mushatq Ahmed and Ashafq Janjua said their clients were falsely implicated in the case and the prosecution had failed to give any proof of their involvement in the crime.

Mr Ahmed submitted that there were glaring contradictions in the statements of the prosecution witnesses. He said the prosecution did not collect any data regarding the phone calls allegedly made by the accused. He said the prosecution witnesses in their statements had not mentioned that they saw the kidnappers. He pleaded for the acquittal of his clients.

Special public prosecutor, however, argued that the prosecution successfully proved the involvement of the accused and pleaded to award capital punishment.