KARACHI, July 13 Four suspects allegedly involved in a child kidnap case were released on personal bonds by the administrative judge of the anti-terrorism courts in Karachi, Justice Mehmood Alam Rizvi of the Sindh High Court, on Monday.

The four suspects — Shafqat, Talha, Saad and Barah — were arrested on charges of kidnapping for ransom 10-year-old Hassan, son of a spare parts trader, Imran, on Khayaban-i-Rahat in Defence.

According to the police, the suspects allegedly kidnapped the child on July 12 and demanded a ransom of Rs10 million for his safe release. However, the victim child was recovered from a house near Hill Park and the suspects, all of them teenagers, were arrested. One of the suspects, Shafqat, is said to be the cousin of the victim child.

The investigation officer of the case produced the teenage suspects before the administrative judge and sought their physical remand for five days.

However, the suspects had already engaged counsel, who submitted that their clients were framed in the case. They prayed to the court to grant them bail till the completion of the investigation.

Releasing the suspects on personal bonds, Justice Mehmood Alam Rizvi directed the IO to complete the investigation and record the statement of the victim child till July 18. The suspects will also be produced on the next hearing.

Former SHO remanded

A judicial magistrate (Malir) on Monday remanded the former SHO of the Gadap police station, Malik Mazhar Awan, in police custody till July 20 in a case related to the killing of two workers of the Sindh Tarraqqi Pasand Party (STPP).

On June 10, the police allegedly opened fire on an STPP rally protesting against the arrival of internally displaced persons in Sindh, killing two of its workers, Hasan Magsi and Barat Kalmati.

The former SHO was the first suspect arrested in this case. Other suspects include Sindh Home Minister Dr Zulfiqar Mirza, Sohrab Goth SHO Nasir-ul-Hasan, Gulshan-i-Maymar SHO Amanullah Marwat and others.

The police later lodged a case of killing of the two STPP workers against the police officials on court orders.

Firecrackers factory blast case sent for trial

The administrative judge of the ATCs also remanded the Gharibabad firecrackers factory blast case against three absconders to ATC-I for trial.

Suspects Babar, Yasin and Azeem were booked by the Sharifabad police on a charge of storing explosive material used in the manufacture of firecrackers in a dangerous manner in a residential area.

The material had exploded accidentally killing one person and injuring several residents of adjoining houses.

A number of houses were also damaged due to the intensity of the blast.—PPI/APP