KARACHI, Sept 5: An anti-terrorism court on Wednesday recorded the statements of all the four men accused of kidnapping Ali Akbar for ransom on February 17, 2007. Judge Haq Nawaz Baloch of ATC-V, who is conducting the trial, fixed September 8 for the final arguments in the case.

The accused — Sheraz Ahmed, Sheraz-ul-Haq, Khwaj Mohammed and Qari Yaseen – were produced in court and repeated their not guilty plea. However, they gave no answer to the judge’s questions about their identification by the victim and did not produce any evidence in their defence. The court recorded the depositions of Ali Akbar, his father Saifuddin and private witness Rehmatullah on August 27. The statements of 14 prosecution witnesses have so far been recorded and a further five witnesses are to be produced at the next hearing.

According to the prosecution, Ali Akbar and a guest were travelling from the airport when the accused, posing as policemen, stopped them at the Super Highway. While the guest waited in the car, Akbar was kidnapped and put in another vehicle. He was then taken to Faqeera Goth, which lies in the limits of the Sachhal police station.

The next day, the kidnappers demanded a Rs20 million ransom for Akbar’s release. After negotiations with Akbar’s father Saifuddin, they agreed to accept Rs500,000 which were to be handed over at Islamabad airport. The prosecution told the court that the ransom was accordingly handed over by Saifuddin on February 21, 2007, and Akbar was released in Karachi the same day.

The FIR was registered at the Sachhal police station.