KARACHI, Jan 15: Two juvenile accused in a kidnapping-cum- murder case were sentenced on Thursday to life term on two counts by an anti-terrorism court.
Judge Arshad Noor Khan of the ATC-3 sentenced Waqar Ali Shamsi and Mohammed Arshad to suffer life imprisonment for the offence of kidnapping for ransom. They were also ordered the forfeiture of the convicts' properties, worth Rs100,000 each.
Waqar Shamsi, student of class nine, and his teenaged friend, Mohammed Arshad, were found guilty of having kidnapped and killed a classmate of accused Shamsi. They were tried under the Juvenile Justice System Ordinance, 2000.
The judge sentenced the two accused to another life term for the charge of intentionally murdering their victim. The judge also imposed a fine of Rs100,000 each on the convicts and ordered that the defaulter on the payment would have to undergo an additional one-year term.
Accused Waqar Shamsi and his two alleged accomplices kidnapped Hafiz Mohammed Umer for ransom and strangled their victim on Sept 16 last year.
Accused Shamsi called his classmate to his house and then took him to the house of his friends - Mohammed Arshad and Imran Masih alias Raja - in Akhtar Colony. They injected a mouse- killing drug to their victim and fixed adhesive tape on his mouth as he started crying from pain. Later, the accused strangled the captive with an electric wire.
The accused phoned the victim's family and demanded Rs3 million as ransom for the release of Hafiz Umer. They asked the family to deliver the money at the Mehmoodabad graveyard or they would kill the hostage.
Later, the police arrested accused Shamsi at his house after the victim's family cast doubt on him. The teenaged accused broke up and confessed to have kidnapped and killed the victim. He also led the police to the house where victim's body, stuffed in a gunny bag, was kept.
Accused Arshad was arrested after a couple of days in Korangi, where he was hiding in the house of his maternal aunt. Accused Raja, however, remained untraceable and he was declared absconder.
Special public prosecutor, Naimat Ali Randhawa, examined in all nine witnesses, including the brother, father and the maternal uncle of the victim. One of the prime witness for the prosecution was the owner of the house where the victim was kept and killed.
The house-owner, Maqbool Hussain, had rented out his house to accused Imran Masih and Mohammed Arshad. Accused Arshad and Shamsi had given him the two-month rent a day before they kidnapped the boy.
The house-owner saw accused Imran and Arshad going into the house around 3:30pm. After a little while, he said, accused Waqar Shamsi along with Hafiz Umer reached the house. He was also present when the police recovered the body on the lead of accused Shamsi.
RANSOM CASE: An anti-terrorism court put off the hearing of a kidnapping for ransom case against three accused, including the son of a senior superintendent of police, after recording the statements of two more prosecution witnesses.
Judge Haq Nawaz Baloch of the ATC-5 fixed Jan 16 for recording further evidence after the depositions of Inspector Ghulam Akbar Narejo, one of the investigation officers, and Farooq Ameen, an assistant controller of the Citizen-Police Liaison Committee.
Accused Asif Hussian Junejo, son of SSP Mumtaz Junejo, Alauddin Junejo, son of Roshan Junejo (a town nazim from Sanghar), and Rustum Haider are being tried for kidnapping a 20- year-old man, who remained in captivity for 52 days and was released after the payment of Rs7 million as ransom.
The CPLC official also placed on record an audio cassette, containing the discussion between the kidnappers and the victim's family on landline and cellular phone.
The defence counsel also cross-examined the two prosecution witnesses. The three accused were arrested on Nov 1 while five other accused - Ms Natasha alias Sonia, Zeeshan alias Burger, Abu Sufiyan, Haji Mashooq Brohi, and Rafique Jatt son of Dawood Jatt - have been declared absconders by the court.