KARACHI, Jan 20: The mother of a five-year-old boy recalled the events of the kidnapping of her son and the driver when she testified before an Anti-Terrorism Court here on Tuesday.

The ATC Judge, Syed Hasan Shah Bukhari, was conducting the trial of a kidnapping for ransom and killing case against three accused, Nisar Ahmed, Shahzad Masih and Munir Masih, who were charged with kidnapping the minor boy, Mohammad Rehan, and his driver, Irfan, with their vehicle on Oct 2, 2007. After collecting the ransom, the accused released the boy but allegedly killed his driver.

Although, the court had already recorded the final arguments, it summoned the victim child’s mother on an application filed by the special public prosecutor, Mohammad Khan Buriro, under Section 540 of the criminal procedure code (power to summon material witness or examine persons present) requesting the court to examine the victim’s mother.

The mother of the kidnapped boy, Sadaf, appeared in court as a prosecution witness and narrated her ordeal. She said in her statement that on Oct 2, 2007 her driver went to pick her son from his school but did not return.

She said that she contacted the driver over the phone but it was attended by an unknown person who informed her that her son and the driver had been kidnapped. He demanded ransom for the release of her son and the driver.

She said the ransom amount was delivered to the kidnappers at a specified place in Manzoor Colony.

The mother testified that the kidnappers had released her son after collecting the ransom but neither freed the driver nor handed over the vehicle. However, the police found the driver’s body and the vehicle near the Baloch Colony bridge on the following morning. A case (FIR222/07) was registered under Sections 365-A and 302/34 of the Pakistan Penal Code on the complaint of a relative of the kidnapped boy. Later, on Oct 10, 2007 acting on a tip-off, a team of the Anti-Violent Crime Cell conducted a raid in the limits of the Mehmoodabad police station and arrested the accused.

The court adjourned the hearing till Jan 24. The special public prosecutor will argue on the next date of hearing.

JM cross-examined

The same court recorded the testimony of a judicial magistrate in a case related to the kidnapping of an eight-year-old boy for ransom.

The accused, Adnan Ahmed Khan and Naila, have been charged with kidnapping the boy, Arsalan, on August 13 in the limits of the Sachal police station.

Judicial Magistrate Manzoor Siddiqui testified that the investigation officer had produced the accused, Adnan, before him and he had recorded the accused statement under Section 164 of Criminal Procedure Code after completing all the legal formalities. He deposed that the accused had confessed to having kidnapped the boy for ransom.

The defence counsel, Mushtaq Ahmed, cross-examined the judicial magistrate. While raising objections to the confessional statement, he said that instead of remanding the accused in judicial custody, the JM had handed him over to the investigation officer which was unlawful.

He submitted that the statement must be treated as invalid since it was made without adopting proper procedure and legal formalities.

The court adjourned the hearing till Jan 27.

According to the prosecution, the accused demanded a ransom of Rs1 million from the victim’s family. However, the matter was reported to the police and the Anti-Violent Crime Cell in coordination with the Citizens- Police Liaison Committee raided a house on Sept 15 in the Gulzar-i-Hijri area and arrested the couple and recovered the abducted child. During the interrogation, the suspects disclosed that they had planned to kidnap the child as they loved each other and wanted to get married but were short of money to meet their wedding expenses, it added.

The Sachal police registered a case under Section 365-A of the Pakistan Penal Code read with Section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997 on the complaint of the victim’s grandfather.