KARACHI, Jan 31: The additional district and sessions judge, East, M Kauser Sultana Hussain, sentenced a house robber to suffer life imprisonment for two counts of murders during the robbery.
Ashiq Hussain along with his absconding accomplices had barged into the house of Dr. Aliya on January 3, 1997 in Ferozabad police limits. The intruders injured the doctor and shot dead her parents - Najeeb Ullah and Sharifun Nisa.
The judge handed down life imprisonment to the accused on two counts of double murder. The accused was also ordered to pay Rs100,000 as compensation to the victims' legal heirs.
The accused was also sentenced to a seven-year term for committing house robbery. A fine of Rs50,000 was also imposed on the convict, who would have to undergo an additional six-month term in case of default on the payment.
INDIAN FISHERMEN: The judicial magistrate, West, Irshad Hussain, sent 47 Indian fishermen to judicial custody till February 14. The fishermen were arrested on Saturday while illegally fishing in the Pakistani waters. Their six launches were also seized by the authorities.
RANSOM CASE: An anti-terrorism court indicted on Monday an accused for kidnapping a three-year-old boy for ransom. Judge Arshad Noor Khan of the ATC-3 put off the hearing till Tuesday after accused Shahzad alias Shahzad Makrani denied the charges.
The judge ordered special public prosecutor Naimat Ali Randhawa to start the examination of prosecution witness on the next hearing. According to prosecution, four accused - Zahid Makrani, Jahangir Makrani, Baba and Shahzad Makrani - kidnapped Hasan Javed, son of Javed Iqbal on December 12, last year from Iqbal Centre, a residential-cum-commercial plaza on the M. A. Jinnah Road.
The kidnappers demanded Rs50,000 from the victim's father, a auto spare parts dealer, on phone. They asked Javed Iqbal to deliver the money at Chakiwara. The victim's father reached the designated spot to deliver the ransom after informing the police.
The four accused approached the victim's father, who handed over the money to accused Shahzad. The accused asked Javed Iqbal to wait there for 10 minutes and left the scene. After a short while, the four accused appeared again with accused Shazad holding the victim.
A police party, which had already taken position near the victim's father, tried to arrest the four accused, three of whom disappeared in the narrow lanes of the vicinity, while accused Shahzad was caught. Besides recovering the kid from him, the police also seized his share of Rs5,000 in the ransom amount from him.
CHARGE-SHEET: Justice Amir Hani Muslim, administrative judge for anti-terrorism courts in Karachi, on Monday accepted the charge-sheet against seven accused and entrusted the trial of the case to the ATC-III, adds APP.
Police had earlier submitted charge-sheet against accused Iftekhar, Khalil-ur-Rahman, Sajjad Ahmed, Fareed, Mohammad Ali, Baber and Nazeer alias Bala (injured) before the AJ on alleged charges of attempt to murder, encounter with police, possessing illegal arms and ammunition.
According to the charges, the accused, allegedly a member of the Rahman Dacoit gang, went to a factory on Jan 3 and demanded illegal extortion. The police were informed and when a police party reached the spot, the accused opened fired on the police party.
One of the accused, Shahnawaz alias Shani, died during the exchange of fire while Nazeer Bala sustained fire-arm injuries. The police also allegedly recovered seven TT pistols, three hand-grenades, a kalashnikov and live rounds from the accused. The AJ, after going through the charge sheet, accepted it and marked the case for trial to the ATC-III, headed by judge Arshad Noor Khan.