KARACHI, Feb 13: An anti-terrorism court remanded on Monday three suspects in police custody till Feb 23 in a case pertaining to the kidnapping and murder of a 12-year-old boy.

The three suspects — Syed Ali Raza, son of Syed Mohammad Raza, Ali Raza, son of Attaullah, and Mohammad Zohaib Tariq — have been booked for allegedly kidnapping for ransom and then killing Zaheem Nawaz, the son of an assassinated DSP, on Feb 8 within the remit of the Sharea Faisal police station.

The police produced the suspects before an anti-terrorism court and requested the court to grant them 14-day remand of the suspects for further interrogation.

However, Judge Bashir Ahmed Khoso of the ATC-I remanded the suspects in police custody for 10 days and directed the investigation officer to produce them on the next hearing along with a progress report on the investigation of the case.

According to the prosecution, the suspects kidnapped Zaheem on Feb 8 near his apartment building on main Rashid Minhas Road and demanded a ransom of Rs20 million for his safe release. With the help of call data, the police arrested the suspects on the night of Saturday and also recovered the body on a lead given by them, it added.

The suspects knew the victim before the incident as they had visited his flat a number of times to carry out repair work.

DSP Nawaz Ranjha along with his driver was gunned down in a targeted attack on M.A Jinnah Road in August 2010.