HYDERABAD: Matiari AntiTerrorism Court-I (ATC-I) Judge Ubaidullah Khan on Tuesday awarded life imprisonment to four accused in a kidnapping for ransom case.

Wazeer Shah, Sardar Shah, Ghulam Q adir Magsi and Altaf Shah were booked in the case registered against them under Sections 365-A, 397 PPC read with Section 6/77 ATA 1997 at Hala New police station of Matiari district.Jamil Ahmed Lashari had lodged a complaint that he, his son Ahsan and one Ibrahim Rajput were kidnapped by the accused. He and Rajput were robbed of Rs30,000 and Rs13,000, respectively, besides two mobile phones.

Jamil, an estate agency proprietor, said that on May 22, 2023 he, his son and the acquaintance were kidnapped by four unidentified persons near Shah Mohammad Dahiri village at 2am while they were returning from Hyderabad.

Jamil and Ibrahim were but Ahsan was taken away by the accused.Police recovered Ahsan on June 12, 2023 and arrested Wazeer Shah, Sardar Shah and Ghulam Qadir on the spot. A gun was recovered from Sardar Shah and a 30-bore pistol from Ghulam Qadir. But the co-accused Altaf Shah, Majid Shah, Ahsan Brohi and Sahib Dahri and Yosusif Khan escaped. Subsequently, Altaf Shah was also arrested.

Theabscondingaccusedweredeclared proclaimed offenders in a supplementary challan of the case before the ATC-I.

After the trial, the court convicted Wazeer Shah, Sardar Shah, GhulamQadir and Altaf Shah under Section 265H(ii) of the PPC to life imprisonment for offence under Section 6(2)(3) of ATA read with Section 365-A, 149 PPC.

Since they were convicted of kidnapping for ransom, they were also liable to forfeiture of their property if any.

They would undergo rigorous imprisonment for seven years each and pay a fine of Rs50,000. In case of failure to pay the fine, they would have to suffer imprisonment for six months. The court kept the case of the absconding accused on a dormant file till their arrest.