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KARACHI, June 7: An anti-terrorism court recorded on Saturday the statement of a judicial magistrate in a kidnap for ransom case.
Sajid, Shaukat, Jaffar, Amjad, Riaz and Ramzan are facing trial, being conducted by Judge Ahmed Nawaz Shaikh of the ATC-III, in the case pertaining to the kidnapping of a student of the NED University of Engineering and Technology.
Judicial Magistrate Maqbool Memon testified that police had produced the six accused in his court. He recorded their confessional statements under Section 164 of the Criminal Procedure Code after completing all the legal formalities, said the magistrate.
According to the prosecution, Sajid, Shaukat, Jaffar, Amjad, Riaz and Ramzan had allegedly kidnapped Esha from Gulshan-i-Iqbal on June 24, 2007 and took her to Surjani Town area. They demanded Rs0.5 million as ransom.
The victim’s family informed the police who managed to arrest one of the suspects the very next day.
During interrogations, the suspect told the police that his companions had kept Esha in a house in Surjani Town. Soon after the disclosure, police raided the house, arrested the accused and recovered the kidnapped girl.
A case (FIR No 60/2007) was registered at Mobina Town police station on a complaint of the victim’s family under Section 365-A/34 of the Pakistan Penal Code read with Section 7 of the Anti-terrorism Act.
The accused were indicted on April 5, 2008. However, they pleaded not guilty and opted to contest the case.
After recording the magistrate’s statement on Saturday, Judge Ahmed Nawaz adjourned the case hearing till July 8.
Gang-rape case
The court of additional district and sessions judge-IV, east, deferred indictment of the accused in a case pertaining to the gang-rape of a woman on the premises of Quaid-i-Azam’s mausoleum since the judge was on leave.
According to the prosecution, an 18-year-old woman was subjected to sexual assault after being kidnapped on the premises of the mausoleum by unidentified men on the night of March 15. She was found in an unstable condition outside the mausoleum on March 17.
The case (FIR No 50/2008) was registered at Brigade police station on the complaint of her father under Section 365/B of the Pakistan Penal Code.
The police had arrested an assistant manager security of mausoleum, an accountant and a personal assistant to the resident engineer of the Quaid-i-Azam Mausoleum Management Board for their alleged involvement in the case.
