KARACHI, Jan 24: An Anti-Terrorism Court on Saturday reserved its judgment till Feb 7 in a kidnapping-and-murder case.
Three accused, Nisar Ahmed, Shahzad Masih and Munir Masih, have been charged with kidnapping a five-year-old boy, Mohammad Rehan, and his driver, Irfan, for ransom. The accused had released the boy but allegedly killed the driver after collecting the ransom in October 2007.
The judge, Syed Hasan Shah Bukhari of the ATC-I, who is conducting the trial, reserved his verdict after recording the final arguments of both sides.
In the final arguments, Special Public Prosecutor Khan Mohammad Buriro submitted that the prosecution had presented ample evidence against the accused to prove their involvement in the case.
He said that two eyewitnesses had not only identified the accused during the identification parade held before a judicial magistrate but also assigned their roles in the crime.
He argued that the evidence of all the prosecution witnesses had corroborated the prosecution story while the medical reports also strengthened his case.
The prosecutor maintained that the victim boy had also identified the accused before the trial court. He prayed to the court to give capital punishment to the accused persons.
However, the defence counsel took the plea that there was no direct evidence against the accused and there were glaring contradictions in the statements of the prosecution witnesses.
They submitted that the prosecution has failed to establish its case and prayed to the court to acquit their clients.
According to the prosecution, the accused kidnapped the minor boy and his driver along with their vehicle on Oct 2, 2007 in the limits of the Frere police station and demanded Rs500,000 as ransom. However, after receiving the ransom, they released the boy but allegedly killed the driver. The police found the driver’s body and the vehicle near the Baloch Colony Bridge on Oct 3, 2007.
Acting on a tip-off, a team of the Anti-violent Crime Cell conducted a raid in the limits of the Mehmoodabad police station on Oct 10, 2007 and arrested the accused.
A case (FIR222/07) was registered under Sections 365-A and 302/34 of the Pakistan Penal Code read with Section 7 of the Anti-terrorism Act 1997, against the accused on the complaint of the victim’s relative, Shahid.
Gold trader’s case
An additional district and sessions judge (south) directed the jail authorities on Saturday to shift a gold trader, Kamran Tessori, to hospital for treatment.
Mr Tessori was allegedly involved in a case relating to possession of illicit weapons. A case was registered against him under the Arms Ordinance at the Gizri police station.
The defence counsel requested to the court to direct the jail superintendent to shift and admit his client to Aga Khan Hospital for treatment since he was unwell.
The judge, after examining the medical report submitted by the jail authorities on Saturday, directed the jail superintendent to shift the accused to the hospital and admit him if needed.
The police had arrested Kamran Tessori at Karachi airport upon his arrival from Islamabad on Nov 5, 2008. Around five cases were registered against him in Karachi.