RAWALPINDI, Aug 23: A court on Monday acquitted three persons in a Hudood case after the prosecution failed to prove them guilty. The additional district and sessions judge, Chaudhry Abdul Qayyum, acquitted Tayyab, Chanda Bibi and Tauqeer after recording their statements.

The prosecution had alleged that Chanda Bibi was abducted by Tayyab and Tauqeer. However, Chanda Bibi, while recording her statement before the court, denied that she had been abducted. She said she was not a minor and had married Tayyab according to Shariat.

She also brought her five-month-old baby Abdullah to the court. She contended before the court that her parents had lodged a complaint with the police against her under Hudood Ordinance, because she had married Tayyab against their wishes.

Meanwhile, the anti-terrorism court no 2, Safdar Hussain Malik, recorded statements of two investigation officers of Bhara Kahu police station in the murder case of a Lahore-based trader, Zahid Hafeez.

The prosecution had accused a person, Rana Sarwat, of killing the trader after kidnapping him from Lahore and bringing him to Bhara Kahu, Islamabad. According to the prosecution, the accused had demanded Rs10 million from the trader's family.

The family was in the process of finalizing the ransom deal with kidnapper when Zahid Hafeez found the opportunity to escape. However, he could not succeed in his bid and was instead killed by the kidnapper.

Similarly, the accountability court no 1 judge, Malik Manzoor Hussain, continued recording of the final arguments of the National Accountability Bureau's (NAB) prosecutor, Abdul Baseer Qureshi, against former National Assembly speaker Yousaf Raza Gillani in a corruption reference.

The former speaker has been accused by NAB for making hundreds of 'illegal' appointments in the National Assembly Secretariat during his term as speaker. The court has already completed recording of final arguments of the defence counsel in the reference.

The court also adjourned hearing in a corruption reference against former chairman Indus bank, Khurshid Suhail, till September 11. Similarly, the court adjourned hearing against Father Sharif Alam who is facing charges relating to the selling of a plot which belonged to a local church.