Cops among five get life term for robbery, ransom kidnapping

An anti-terrorism court (ATC) on Thursday sentenced five accused persons, including police officials, to life imprisonment on two counts in a 2017 robbery and kidnapping for ransom case.

Four police officials — Inspector Afzal Qureshi and constables Ghulam Nabi, Abid Ali and Muhammad Qasim — and a civilian named Waqar were charged with kidnapping a citizen for ransom and looting his house within the jurisdiction of the Shah Faisal police station in February 2017.

The ATC-XII judge, who conducted the trial in the judicial complex inside the Central Jail Karachi, announced that the prosecution has proved its case beyond any reasonable doubt.

He had reserved his verdict after recording evidence and hearing the arguments of both the defence and prosecution sides. The court convicted the four fleeing police officials in absentia while Waqar was produced in person.

The judge awarded the accused persons rigorous imprisonment for life on two counts for the crimes they had committed under Section 365-A (kidnapping for ransom) and Section 395 (dacoity) of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC), read with Section (2)(e) of the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) 1997.

All the convicts are required to pay a fine of Rs200,000 each, and if they default, they would have to undergo simple imprisonment of six months.

The four cops were handed additional three years of imprisonment under Section 21-L of the Criminal Procedure Code, read with Section 7 (punishment for acts of terrorism) of the ATA, for evading capture and trial.

The court remanded Waqar back to the jail to serve out his prison terms, and ordered the issuance of the conviction warrant of the absconders, who had been declared proclaimed offenders for their perpetual absence from the trial proceedings. The court also issued directions to the investigating officer to arrest and bring the absconders to the prison so that they can serve out their sentences as well.

A case was registered at the Shah Faisal police station under sections 365-A, 396 and 34 of the PPC, read with Section 7 of the ATA. According to the FIR, complainant Shamim Akhtar said that on February 7, 2017, over a dozen armed men stormed her residence and held the household hostage at gun point before ransacking the house. They robbed Rs70,000 in cash, gold ornaments, two mobile phones and other valuables.

The men also kidnapped her son Saqib and sped away in three four-wheelers. She said that three days later the alleged kidnappers called on her daughter-in-law’s phone number to demand Rs500,000 but later agreed on Rs200,000 for releasing Saqib.