KARACHI, Dec 21: An anti-terrorism court on Tuesday recorded the statements of two prosecution witnesses in a case pertaining to the kidnapping of a minor child for ransom.

Four accused — Mor Borhro, Irshad Ahmed Lashari, Arz Muhammad Saryan and Muhammad Hasan Sahto — have been charged with abducting five-year-old Arsh Nabi within the remit of the Defence police station in January this year for ransom.

The first prosecution witness, Inspector Zakaullah, deposed that he was posted at the Defence police station in January and initially the investigation of the case was assigned to him and he wrote the diaries of Jan 14 and 15 and recorded the statement of the complainant.

He said that on Jan 15 the complainant informed him that the kidnapers demanded ransom for the release of the captive, thus the investigation was transferred to the anti-violent crime cell (AVCC).

The second witness, Chaudhry Bashir of the AVCC, testified that he was the investigation officer of five connected cases registered against the accused for attacking the police and possessing unlicensed weapons.

He stated that he had inspected the place of the incident and prepared a memo, recorded the statements of witnesses under Section 161 of the criminal procedure code, sent the weapons for a ballistic examination and filed a charge-sheet against the accused.

After recording their statements, Judge Anand Ram Hotwani of the ATC-III adjourned the hearing till Dec 24 for the evidence of other witnesses.

According to the prosecution, the complainant paid Rs1 million to the accused, but they did not release the victim and demanded more money and on Jan 23 an AVCC team carried out a raid near the Northern Bypass and arrested the accused after a shoot-out and recovered the child.

The police also recovered illicit weapons from the possession of the accused, it added.

A case (FIR 50/2010) was registered under Section 356-A (kidnapping for ransom) and 34 (common intention) of the Pakistan Penal Code read with Section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997 at the Defence police station.