Two handed down life imprisonment in kidnapping for ransom case

An anti-terrorism court has sentenced two men, including an ex-serviceman, to life imprisonment on two counts for kidnapping a businessman for ransom.

Nawazish Akbar, a retired major, and Naveed Hafeez were found guilty of kidnapping their employer Sher Bahadur Khan Khattak from outside the Malir Court on June 19, 2006 and receiving a ransom for his release.

The ATC-XVI judge, who conducted the trial in the judicial complex inside the central prison, observed that the prosecution convincingly established its case against the accused beyond any reasonable doubt. He observed that the testimonies of eyewitnesses corroborated by consistent and reliable evidence confirmed not only the incident of kidnapping itself but also the payment of cash and jewellery as a ransom to the accused.

The judge sentenced both the convicts to life imprisonments on two counts for offences punishable under the Section 365-A (kidnapping or abducting for extorting property, valuable security, etc.) of the Pakistan Penal Code and Section 7-e (punishment for acts of terrorism) of the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997. He ordered that their properties be forfeited to the government.

Both were also awarded three-year imprisonment and Rs100,000 fine each for wrongfully confining the abducted person for a period of five to six months for payment of ransom and seven-year imprisonment for the theft of the victim’s car.

All the sentences awarded to them will run concurrently, the court said and put the case against the absconding accomplices, Muhammad Zaman Masood, Amir Mehsood and Fareed Ahmed, on the dormant file and issued their perpetual arrest warrants.

"Although there was a delay of one-and-a-half years in lodging the FIR, but this delay was adequately explained through applications submitted to various authorities, including the Supreme Court and High Court," the judge noted.

"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."

He said the victim recorded his statement and provided details of being pressured, threatened and blackmailed into signing business agreements and transferring assets under duress, adding that his testimony was supported by over 700 pages of documentary evidence, which detailed the extent of the financial exploitation he endured.

The judge said the ransom amount was actually a business settlement under which payment was made and the shares of the victim's company were transferred in the name of Akbar and his wife. All this was done during the detention period of the victim, he added.

According to state prosecutor Muhammad Raza, the complainant, Dil Nawaz, and his brother Sher Bahadur were returning from the Malir Court on June 19, 2006 when Nawazish, Naveed and their absconding accomplices intercepted their car and whisked Sher Bahadur away with the car.

The complainant said that their mother moved multiple applications to various authorities, including superior courts over the kidnapping of her son, after which the FIR was lodged. During the trial, Sher Bahadur testified that he had purchased a piece of land in Gawadar in 2003 and subsequently established a builder firm, giving five per cent of its share to Nawazish. He said that his employees Nawazish and Naveed were found involved in some financial misappropriation during an audit of the business but apologised in a written undertaking.

Bahadur said they later got him arrested in a cheque bounce case and illegally took over his five offices and after his release, he terminated both of them. Both the accused along with their absconding accomplices Haji Zaman, Amir, Fareed and Nadeem abducted him in his car and drove away, he claimed.

"I was held captive in a room on the first floor of the bungalow by the accused where Haji Zaman and Amir would make me offer Namaz and give me training of [becoming] suicide bomber," he alleged. "Both the absconding accused Haji Zaman and Amir would take me to different meetings of Taliban where they would conduct Jirgas (arbitration)."

The victim said that during his captivity, he got to know that Nawazish had transferred 95 per cent share of the company in his name, adding that the accused also collected the ransom two times in the shape of Rs3.5 million in cash and gold jewellery worth Rs9 million from his wife.

They also received installments of plots from his clients in an account opened at a private bank and sold files worth Rs20 million. He said he was released from captivity after he started developing mental health issues and took around two years to recover. Subsequently, he said he approached courts seeking action against them.

On the other hand, the defence side contended that there was a business dispute between the accused and victim, due to which the accused were implicated in the present case to build pressure on them. It said that charges could not be proved as neither was the alleged victim recovered from the possession of the accused nor was the car.