KARACHI, Nov 10: An anti-terrorism court sentenced on Thursday an accused to life in jail for kidnapping a man for ransom. Judge Arshad Noor Khan of the ATC-3 also ordered confiscation of Zahid Sagheer’s property worth Rs100,000.

The victim was kept at the house of Zahid Sagheer, whose four absconding accomplices — Fahad Masod, S. M. Nadeem, Imtiaz and Shahid — had kidnapped 22-year-old Syed Shahid Ahmed on Feb 2 in Sachal police limits and demanded Rs2.5 million for his release from his brother Syed Mohammed Sarwar.

Zahid Sagheer was arrested on Feb 6 at his house in Landhi where the victim was kept. The police also recovered the victim from Sagheer’s house during the raid.

The court awarded a lesser punishment to Sagheer as the special public prosecutor had prayed to the court to award minimum punishment to him because he had only confined the abducted person in his house and he had not played any role in the abduction of Shahid Ahmed.

Special public prosecutor Naimat Ali Randhawa examined in all five prosecution witnesses, including victim Shahid, who identified Sagheer.

CONVOY ATTACK CASE: An anti-terrorism court put off the hearing of the corps commander case against 11 workers of the banned Jundullah group.