KARACHI, Feb 11: A prosecution witness in a child kidnap case identified two of the three accused during his testimony before an anti-terrorism court on Wednesday.
Accused Sultan Zeb, Israel and Noor Bacha have been charged with kidnapping a four-and-a-half-year-old child, Shanaris Khan, for ransom. They were present in court when the prosecution witness testified.
A tailor by profession, the witness, Mohammad Tanveer, appeared in court and identified two accused – Sultan Zeb and Israel – and stated that they had visited his shop in Qayyumabad many times and inquired about the family background and details of Gul Nazeer, the father of the kidnapped child and the owner of the building where his shop was located.
He deposed that the two accused first posed as customers and placed orders for stitching of their suits. However during their visits, they also inquired about Gul Nazeer. The court after recording his statement adjourned the hearing till Feb 13.
According to the prosecution, three accused, Sultan Zeb, Israel and Noor Bacha, kidnapped Shanaris Khan on July 2, 2007 in Qayyumabad area and released him on July 22, 2007 after the family paid a ransom of Rs125,000. Gul Nazeer lodged an FIR (531/2007) under Section 365 of the Pakistan Penal Code.
The police managed to arrest the accused on August 24, 2007 and during the course of investigations they allegedly confessed to their involvement in the crime.
IO testifies in Christians killing case
The same court recorded the statement of a police officer investigating the September 2002 killings of seven Christian men, who were shot dead inside the office of a charity.Inspector Mahmood, who was the first investigation officer of the case, appeared in court as a prosecution witness and testified. The counsel for both sides also cross-examined him.
Seven Christians – Iqbal Allah Rakha, Benjiman Sadiq, Kamran Anjum, Jan Muneer, Aslam Martin, Mushtaq Roshan, and Edwin Foster – of the Idara Amn-o-Insaf were killed and one Robin Sharif was wounded in the September 2002 attack.
Six years later, the police arrested accused Mohammad Atif, Zubairuddin, Asif, Wajahat, Abid and Mohammad Arshad for their alleged involvement in the killing case and booked them under Sections 302 (murder) and 324 (attempt to murder) of the Pakistan Penal Code.
The investigation officer deposed that he had received written orders from the high-ups to investigate the case following which he first visited the Civil Hospital to gather facts.
He said that in 2008 the police managed to arrest the culprits, who were involved in the case, in two different parts of the country. The accused allegedly belonged to a banned outfit, Jaish-i-Mohammad, he added.
Narrating the details of the case, the witness deposed that two accused, Mohammad Arshad and Abid, were arrested in Punjab in May 2008 in a different case but later during interrogation they allegedly confessed to their involvement in the September 2002 killings.
The other accused, he said, were arrested by Preedy police in March 2008 in some other cases but during investigations the interrogators came to know that the suspects were also involved in the Idara Amn-o-Insaf killing case.
Before the court adjourned its proceedings till Feb 13, the prosecution moved an application under Section 540 (power to summon material witness or examine persons present) of the Criminal Procedure Code requesting the court to examine a medico-legal officer of the Civil Hospital.
The public prosecutor, Taseer Khan, submitted that since Dr Israr Ahmed, who originally examined the bodies, had moved to Saudi Arabia for employment, and another officer of the same hospital, Dr Hafiz Mohammad Akhtar, should be summoned to testify on behalf of his colleague.