KARACHI, Jan 10: An Anti-Terrorism Court on Saturday reserved its verdict till Jan 21 in a kidnapping for ransom case.

Two accused, Iqbal and Shiraz, have been charged with kidnapping a 12-year-old boy, Anis, for ransom in the limits of Gulberg police station in 2005.

Judge Anand Ram Hotwani of ATC-III reserved his verdict after recording the final arguments from both sides.

Earlier, an anti-terrorism court had found the accused guilty of committing the crime and sentenced them to life imprisonment. However, they challenged the conviction in the high court which had remanded back the case to the trial court for a retrial. According to the prosecution, the accused had kidnapped the boy on April 6, 2005 and demanded a ransom for his release. They freed the victim the same day after collecting the ransom of Rs70,000 and 22 grams of gold as the victim’s father was a jeweller. The police acting on a lead given by the victim had arrested the accused a couple of days after the incident.

The investigation officer, Ali Mohammad, said in the charge-sheet that one of the accused, Shiraz, worked as a domestic servant at the victim’s house and knew his father was financially sound. He along with his associate had kidnapped Anis for ransom.

In the final arguments, the special public prosecutor, Mubashir Mirza, alleged that the complainant and the investigation officer as well as other prosecution witnesses had damaged the case by deliberately testifying against the prosecution contrary to their pervious statements.

He also sought action against the complainant and the investigation officer for deviation from their pervious stances. He concluded that the crime was committed as the accused were given a life term in this case earlier but now the prosecution witnesses had destroyed the evidence. He prayed to the court to decide the case on merit.

The defence counsel submitted that the prosecution had failed to prove its case as the witnesses did not depose against the accused while there was no evidence that could connect the accused with the alleged offence. They said that it was a case of no evidence and prayed to the court to acquit their clients.

The special public prosecutor said that he would file an application in the court on Monday (Jan 12) under Section 193 (punishment for false evidence) of the Criminal Procedure Code against the complainant and the investigation officer for legal action.