April 23, 2008	Wednesday	Rabi-us-Sani 16, 1429

KARACHI April 22: An anti-terrorism court on Tuesday reserved its order in a kidnapping and murder case for pronouncement till April 30.

The judge, Haq Nawaz Baloch, of ATC-V, who is conducting the trial, recorded the statements of the executives of two cellular phone firms. They also produced the record pertaining to the conversation between the complainant and the accused.

Earlier, in his final arguments, the defence counsel, Mushtaq Ahmed, said that his clients were innocent and were implicated in the case. He said that confessional statements of the accused were recorded without completing legal formalities.

He argued that the prosecution had not produced any private evidence in court and had failed to prove its case. He pleaded for the acquittal of his clients.

The special public prosecutor said that the prosecution had produced enough evidence to prove the involvement of the accused in the case and the judicial magistrate had also recorded their confessional statements. He demanded capital punishment for the accused.

The court had examined around 16 prosecution witnesses in the case including the judicial magistrate, Mohammad Asif, who had recorded the confessional statements of the accused.

According to the prosecution, Mohammad Naveed was kidnapped on Sept 9, 2007 from the limits of City Courts police station. Later the kidnappers contacted the victim’s brother, Mohammad Nadeem, and demanded Rs80 million as ransom and warned that if the ransom amount was not paid they would kill Naveed.

After some time, one of the family members of the deceased saw the picture of Naveed at an Edhi centre. The Edhi centre officials told him that the police had recovered the body from the limits of Malir police station.

The charge-sheet said that the accused, Sohail, and, Zainab, had kidnapped Naveed and later killed him with the help of Mohammad Asif. According to details, Sohail had an affair with Zainab, while Naveed had also developed an interest in her.

The police had traced the accused through the calls they made to the complainant.

A case (FIR 94/07) was registered under the Sections 365-A and 302 of the Pakistan Penal Code read with Section 7 of the ATA at the City Courts police station on the complaint of Mohammed Nadeem. The co-accused Mohammad Asif was declared absconder in the case.

Hearing adjourned

The anti-terrorism court-II recorded the statement of two kidnapees in a case pertaining to kidnapping for ransom.

According to the prosecution, Sheraz, along with the co-accused Sub-inspector Khadim Hussain Nizamani, had allegedly kidnapped Nasir Hussain and Artaza Khan on June 17, 2006 from the limits of City Courts police station and forced them to sign some documents regarding the transfer of a property and demanded ransom for their release.

The judge, Abdul Ghafoor Memon, of ATC-II, adjourned the hearing till April 23 when the defence counsel will examine Nasir and Artaza.