KARACHI: Eight officials of the Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) were arrested on Monday after their interim bail applications were dismissed from the anti-terrorism court (ATC) in a kidnapping for ransom case.

The accused — Younus Baloch, Rizwan, Ali Hassan, Shakeel, Abdul Jabar, Khalid, Zeeshan and Asif — had appeared before the ATC-1 in Clifton for the confirmation of their interim bail.

But the court recalled its earlier interim order and dismissed their pre-arrest bail and directed police to take them into custody.

According to the prosecution, the CTD men, including an inspector, Shoaib Qureshi, were booked under sections 365-A (kidnapping for extorting property, valuable security, etc), 384 (punishment for extortion), 385 (putting person in fear of injury in order to commit extortion) and 34 (common intention) of the Pakistan Penal Code read with relevant section of the Anti-Terrorism Act, at the Bilal Colony police station on the complaint of Saad Shafiq.

According to the complainant, he was abducted, along with his friend Faizan, by the CTD men on June 5, 2022.

He alleged that the kidnappers had released them (the complainant and his friend) after extorting money. However, he approached the court to register an FIR against the CTD officials.

Published in Dawn, December 24th, 2024