PESHAWAR: A local anti-terrorism court on Wednesday acquitted seven suspected kidnappers, including a woman.

The local police had arrested Noor Agha, Hazratullah, Amerullah, Imtiaz, Shakoor, Musafir and Gulalai on the charge of first kidnapping a man for ransom and then freeing him after receiving Rs3 million.

While accepting the acquittal pleas of the seven suspects, the ATC judge asked the police to free them if they’re not wanted in any other case.

The pleas were filed under Section 265-K of the Code of Criminal Procedure, which empowers the trial court to acquit suspects before conclusion of trial if the evidence on record show that there is no probability of their conviction even if the trial is concluded.

The FIR of the case was registered by the police against them on Oct 21, 2014, on the complaint of the father of the kidnapped person, Shahid Zaman.

After his release, the abductee had charged the suspects with kidnapping him.

The prosecution claimed that the woman accused had trapped Shahid Zaman by befriending with him on cellphone.

It alleged that Shahid Zaman was kidnapped by the accused persons and had demanded a ransom of Rs 30 million.

However, it was alleged that he was released after paying Rs three million.

Defence lawyer Mohammad Saeed Khan argued that despite court notices, abductee Shahid Zaman did not turn up for recording his statement.

He added that Shahid Zaman was the prime witness in the case and in case of his non-appearance, there was no possibility of the conviction of the accused. The lawyer said the prosecution had so far failed to prove that the woman accused was in contact with the abductee.

He said the record of cellular phones also did not support the claim of the prosecution.

Meanwhile, a local accountability court on Wednesday directed the National accountability Bureau (NAB), Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, to submit appointment letter of former agency coordinator of Fata Disaster Management Authority (FDMA) Inayatullah, who was arrested on the charge of embezzling funds in the Housing Uniform Assistance Subsidy Project (HUASP) for the Bajaur Agency people affected by militancy.

The suspect claimed he has never served as the FDMA agency coordinator and that he was wrongly arrested by the NAB.

The suspect was arrested on Oct 29 and was initially remanded in the NAB custody for 12 days.

Published in Dawn, November 12th, 2015

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