KARACHI, July 6: An anti-terrorism court on Friday remanded the alleged mastermind of the PIDC blast, Abdul Hameed Bugti son of Ali Dad Bugti, in judicial custody. ATC-1 Judge Ghulam Ali Santio ordered the police to produce the accused before the court on July 13.
According to police, Bugti was arrested on June 29 in the limits of Garden police station by the Anti-Violent Crime Cell (AVCC) and, later, charged with masterminding the blast. Brahmdakh Bugti, a grandson of the late JWP chief Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti, Salim Bugti and Abdul Majeed Bugti have been
declared proclaimed offenders in the case whereas two brothers, Mangla Khan and Aziz Khan, have already been convicted.
Four private security guards had been killed and 21 people wounded in the blast, which also caused extensive damage to the commercial outlets, bank branches and offices on the ground and some upper floors of the PIDC building. It had destroyed at least 25 vehicles and damaged another eight, besides shattering windowpanes of the nearby buildings, including a five-star hotel and Dawood Centre.
Hameed Bugti was also produced before the Judicial Magistrate, South, J. M. Asif Ahmed, in a case pertaining to the possession of illegal arms and narcotics. The magistrate also remanded him in judicial custody till July 13.
Kidnapping for ransom case
The ATC-1 Judge, Ghulam Ali Santio, remanded a couple in judicial custody till July 14 in a kidnapping for ransom case. Dr Mohammad Ibrar Younus and Ms Huma have been charged with kidnapping one, Dr Abdul Wahab, on May 13 and demanding Rs300,000 for his release.
According to the charge-sheet, Ms Meraj-ul-Nisa, wife of the kidnap victim, had expressed her inability to arrange the amount on which the accused curtailed the sum to Rs40,000. She reached Nagan Chowrangi, the place identified by the kidnappers, to handover the ransom money, where the Anti-Violence Crime Cell arrested the accused red-handed. The couple was eventually booked by the Shahrah-i-Noor Jehan police.
Dr Abdul Wahab was later recovered from the couple’s house in New Karachi, according to the prosecution.