HYDERABAD, Dec 24: The Anti-Terrorism Court, Hyderabad, on Wednesday granted bail to an accused in a kidnapping for ransom case in the sum of Rs200,000.

Lawyer Amjad Sehto, who represented applicant Saleem Pisyo, argued before the court that neither the police had made any recovery in the case nor any witness or the complainant had identified the accused before the court.

The applicant had surrendered before the Tando Mohammad Khan police on March 29.

He was booked by the Bulri Shah Karim police for allegedly kidnapping Haji Ahmad alias Aamo Katiyar and others in Tando Mohammad Khan on Sept 3. The matter was fixed for Jan 14.

SHC: A division bench of the Sindh High Court, Hyderabad, on Wednesday directed the additional finance secretary to appear before the court with an explanation if a fund of Rs4,257,639 was not released as ordered earlier.

The order was passed on two identical constitutional petitions, involving land acquisition matters.

The Sindh additional advocate general, Masood A. Noorani, told the court that due to time factor, definite instructions could not be obtained.

He made his statement in the wake of the high court’s last order, requiring him to seek instructions from the Sindh finance secretary as to when he would release Rs4.2 million.

Contesting the AAG’s statement, the counsel of the petitioners, Ghulam Rasool Qureshi, prayed the court to direct the finance secretary to appear in person.

The petitioners said their lands were acquired by the land acquisition officer on Feb 10, 2000, but they were still awaiting the payment for the lands.