KARACHI, Oct 19: An anti-terrorism court sentenced on Tuesday two young men to suffer life imprisonment for kidnapping and murder of a 20-year-old student. Victim Raghib Hussain was kidnapped and killed by a gang of five , one of whom posing as a girl on the internet who talked him into going on a date.

Judge Arshad Noor Khan of the ATC-3 sentenced Khurram Mushtaq and Ather Mehmood to life in jail under Section 365-A for kidnapping the victim for ransom. The judge also ordered confiscation of accused's properties, worth Rs100,000 each.

The second term of life imprisonment was handed down to the accused for victim's murder. The judge also imposed a fine of Rs100,000 each on two accused and ordered that the defaulter on the payment would have to undergo an additional five-year term.

Their three accomplices, who have been declared absconders, were Sheerazuddin, Ms Shabana and Asif. The judge ordered that the case against the absconding accused be kept in dormant file till their arrest.

The victim was kidnapped around 11:30am on April 1 and later in the evening he was found unconscious near Singapore Towers in Sharea Faisal police limits.

He was first taken to JPMC and then shifted to Liaquat National Hospital. On April 2, he told his mother that he was kidnapped by his friend, Sheerazuddin, who posed him as a girl on the internet.

The victim told the family that on March 31 the imposter asked him into going on a date. He stated that he reached the Rado Centre in Gulistan-i-Jauhar in his Suzuki FX car. He said that Sheeraz along with a girl got into his car and they kidnapped him at gunpoint.

According to the victim, the couple took him to a bungalow in Gulistan-i-Jauhar where accused Khurrum, Asif, and Ather were already present. He stated that accused Asif injected drug in his chest as the other accused caught hold of him. He said that after a little while Asif injected another syringe in his chest and he went unconscious.

The victim's mother, who also appeared as a prosecution witness in the trial court, stated that her brother had seen her son going with a man and a woman in his car. She said around 1:30 pm, the kidnappers phoned her and demanded Rs1 million for the release of her son.

She said that around 8:30am the kidnappers again phoned her to tell her that her son was lying near Singapore Tower.

The victim died at the hospital on April 16 and his mother informed the Gulistan-i-Jauhar police about the incident.

Sub-inspector Umeed Ali Meerani visited her and obtained her statement. However, on the same evening, the SI was killed in an attack on the Gulistan-i-Jauhar police station.

The investigation of the case was assigned to SI Aslam Jat, who inspected the bungalow and seized two disposable used syringes.

The IO also recorded the statement of the owner of the bungalow, who had rented it out to accused Sheeraz, son of a senior official of the Sui Southern Gas Company and resident of the Defence Housing Authority.

Later on July 26, SI Adnan arrested accused Khurrum and Ather. Special public prosecutor Naimat Ali Randhawa examined in all 13 prosecution witnesses, who also included the father and the maternal uncle of the deceased.