KARACHI, Nov 4 An anti-terrorism court on Tuesday indicted four men for kidnapping a five-year-old boy for ransom in Baldia Town.

Suspects Shahzad, Danish Shoaib and Arif denied the charges and opted to contest the case.

Judge Annand Ram Hotwani of ATC-III, who is conducting the trial, summoned all the prosecution witnesses, directing them to appear in court on the next date of hearing to record their statements.

According to the prosecution, the suspects had allegedly kidnapped five-year-old Javed on March 27 in Baldia Town while he was on his way to school.

Later, the accused demanded a ransom of Rs100,000 from the victim's father, Ghulam Hussain. However, Mr Hussain approached the police, who began an investigation.

In the meantime, Shahzad, a cousin of Javed's who had held him hostage, pushed the boy off the Clifton Bridge to avoid being identified by the boy.

The prosecution added that the boy regained consciousness after three days and revealed his ordeal to his parents. He also identified Shahzad as one of his kidnappers.

Teams of the Anti-Violent Crime Unit and the Citizens-Police Liaison Committee jointly conducted raids on the night of April 3 and arrested all the four suspects.

The case was registered against the accused under Section 365-A/34 of the Pakistan Penal Code on the complaint of the victim's father at the Baldia Town police station. The court fixed Nov 11 as the next date of hearing.

Earlier, the suspects had moved bail applications through their counsel and requested the court to grant them bail. However, the court had dismissed their pleas.

Order reserved

An anti-terrorism court recorded final arguments from both sides in a woman's kidnapping for ransom case and reserved its judgment till Nov 11 on Tuesday.

Mohammad Ikramullah was charged with kidnapping Mahnaz for ransom.

The woman was kidnapped in the limits of Gizri police station along with her vehicle on April 29.

The suspect allegedly released the woman on the same day of kidnapping after receiving the ransom.

The police, acting on a tip-off, raided a place near a shrine on Maripur Road on June 10 and arrested the suspect.

The judge of ATC-II, Abdul Ghafoor Memon, who is conducting the trial, indicted the accused on Sept 16, on the charges of kidnapping the woman for ransom.

However, the accused pleaded not guilty and opted for trial.

The investigation officer said in the charge-sheet that while the accused had kidnapped the woman for ransom and released her after receiving the money, he kept her car.

The accused kept the vehicle in his use after changing its colour. The police recovered the vehicle and the ransom from possession of the accused, it added. The prosecution had produced 11 witnesses in court.

A case was registered under Section 365-A of the Pakistan Penal Code and under Section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act at Gizri police station on the complaint of the victim's husband.

In the final arguments, the special public prosecutor, Mohammad Khan Buriro, said that the victim and the complainant had identified the accused during an identification parade held in the court of a judicial magistrate and all witnesses produced by the prosecution had testified against the accused.

He submitted that the car painter in his statement had said that the accused had come to his shop and asked him to change the colour of the vehicle.

He alleged that the accused was a gangster, and his associates had forced the victim and her family to leave the country by threatening them of dire consequences.