KARACHI: After 17 years, an antiterrorism court has sentenced two men, including a retired major, to life in prison for abducting a businessman and extorting a total of Rs16 million in ransom.

The ATC-XVI judge found retired major Nawazish Akbar and civilian Naveed Khan — who appeared on bail — guilty of abducting Sher Bahadur when he was returning from the district Malir court in 2006 and received Rs7m in cash and jewellery worth Rs9m on in ransom.

The court also sentenced them to three years for wrongful confinement, seven years for robbing the victim’s car, and sentenced them additional life imprisonment under Section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act.

The court also directed the forfeiture of the convicts’ property.

ATC orders forfeiture of convicts’ property

According to state prosecutor Muhammad Raza, the complaint was lodged against the abductors, one and a half years after the incident, following the directions of the session court.

In the FIR, the complainant stated that the accused, Nawazish, was a five per cent business partner of his brother Sher Bahadur, who owned a construction company.

After a business dispute, both parties reached a compromise, and Nawazish signed a written agreement with an assurance to settle the outstanding amount.

However, instead of paying the amount, Nawazish allegedly threatened his brother with dire consequences.

On June 6, 2006, when the complainant and his brother (abductee) were returning from Malir Court in their car, the accused, Nawazish, along with his accomplices Haji Zaman, Amir Khan, Fareed Ahmed, Naveed, and Nadeem, intercepted their vehicle. They abducted his brother, took him to an unknown location, and informed the complainant that his brother would be released after resolving the dispute.

In the detailed order, the court reproduced the detailed testimony of the abductee to understand the sequence of events.

In his testimony, the complainant stated that he had established a construction company in 2004 and gave a five per cent share to his employee, Nawazish.

He claimed that upon his return to the country the following year, an audit revealed financial misappropriation by Nawazish and another employee Naveed. Both the accused allegedly submitted written declarations acknowledging their actions and apologising for the embezzlement.

However, he further alleged that months later, these two employees conspired against him and led to his arrest in the Rs5m cheque dishonour case.

During his judicial remand, he claimed that the accused took over his office premises “illegally”. Subsequently, he terminated the services of both Nawazish and Naveed over allegations of fraud.

Describing his six-month in captivity, the victim alleged that the accused confined him to a room where co-accused Haji Zaman and Aamir, said to be associated with Taliban, attempted to make him a suicide bomber.

During this period, he stated that Nawazish frequently visited the place. He later discovered that Nawazish had transferred 95pc of the company’s shares to Haji Zaman and sold assets worth Rs20m.

He further claimed that after his release on medical grounds, he filed petitions in the Sindh High Court in 2008 and 2014, seeking the arrest of the accused and recovery of his assets.

After filing petitions in the court, he claimed that he was taken into custody where he was forced to sign the alleged agreement with a business group.

While submitting the agreement in court, the victim claimed he was compelled to pay Rs1m per month to continue developing the project.

According to his statement, he ultimately sold the project for Rs500m, though its actual value was Rs18 billion.

The court noted that both accused persons did not deny the declarations, adding that prima facie “they have committed misappropriation/fraud of Rs7,000,000, which they have to return to the abductee, so their conduct itself proves that they were involved in the fraud or cheating in his company.”

Regarding the delay in submission of the challan, the court observed: “The involvement of influential individuals, notably the accused Nawazish Akbar, a retired Major, contributed to the delay, further evidenced by the prolonged delay of 17-18 years in submitting the challan.”

It further noted that the victim had provided details of being “pressured, threatened, and blackmailed into signing business agreements and transferring assets under duress. His testimony was supported by over 700 pages of documentary evidence, which detailed the extent of the financial exploitation he endured”.

Published in Dawn, January 2nd, 2025