HYDERABAD, Nov 25: Anti Terrorism Court Judge Mr Abdul Ghafoor Memon here on Saturday sentenced four convicts to 35 years of imprisonment in a kidnapping case and acquitted three co-accused, two of them absconding.

Rahib Ali, Ali Gul alias Ghulam Qadir, Mir Shahnawaz and Manzoor Thebo alias Manu were sentenced to 25 years of rigorous life imprisonment under sections 6(2-e) of the amended Anti Terrorism Act and ten years of rigorous imprisonment under sections 392 PPC.

They were also ordered to pay a fine of Rs50,000 and will have to undergo one year more imprisonment in case of non-payment of fine.

An arrested accused, Noorul, and two absconding accused, Gul Sher and Pinyarl Odhano, were acquitted for lack of evidence.

Earlier, defence counsel Allah Bachayo Soomro appearing on behalf of Shahnawaz and Thebo contended before the court that the identification parade of the accused was not held in accordance with the law as the requisite precautions and measures were not complied with.

He maintained that the identification parade was held after delay as Rahib, Ali Gul and Mir Shahnawaz were shown to have been arrested on May 5, 2000 while the parade was held on May 11, 2000. Similarly, he added, the identification parade of Manzoor, who was nabbed on May 8, was also held on May 11.

He opined that the features of accused were not mentioned in the text of FIR.

Dr Adil Ejaz was kidnapped on July 22, 1999 in Latifabad unit no-6 in the jurisdiction of the B-section police station.

He was returning home from Tando Jam in his Baleno car (no ACH-382) when he was intercepted by the accused at gunpoint and whisked away. He managed to escape from their captivity after 38 days.

His car was later found abandoned in Tando Allahyar. Ultra-sound machine, cellular phone and wallet of Dr Ejaz were recovered from the possession of the accused by police during investigation.

According to family sources, ever since his escape from captivity, Dr Ejaz had been receiving threats of dire consequences as a result of which he had left Hyderabad and staked his government job in the health department. He came here under strict security on the dates of hearing of his case.

Even after the award of life imprisonment to his tormentors, Dr Aijaz, according to his immediate family members, has refused to return to the city for fear of being kidnapped again by the remaining members of the gang.