KARACHI, Dec 26: Balochistan National Party (Mengal) chief Sardar Akhtar Mengal was on Tuesday sent to jail till Jan 5 by an anti-terrorism court in the army personnel hostage-taking case.

“Akhtar Mengal was remanded to judicial custody in the army personnel hostage taking case till Jan 5,” defence counsel Wazeer Hussain Khoso said.

The former chief minister of Balochistan, who was earlier declared a proclaimed offender by the ATC on July 11, was shifted to Karachi from Hub where he had been under house arrest since Nov 25.

He and four of his employees are charged with kidnapping two army personnel, Havaldar Qurban Hussain and Lance Naik Fayaz Ahmed, on April 5, making them hostage at the house of Akhtar Mengal in Karachi and torturing them.

The two army men were released after police besieged the house of Akhtar Mengal.

The court had issued non-bailable warrants against the BNP chief in the case.—PPI