KARACHI: An antiterrorIsm court on Thursday convicted an accused for extorting money from a contractor and acquitted his co-accused over `benefit of doubt`.

Nadeem Ahmed was found guilty of threatening a contractor with killing his family and extorting Rs100,000 from him, and acts of terrorism. The incident occurred in 2016 within the remit of the Supermarket police station.

The ATC-X judge pronounced the judgement, which was earlier reserved.

The judge ruled that the prosecution established its case against main accused Nadeem Ahmed beyond a shadow of a doubt, as the statements of the prosecution witnesses, forensic and other evidence fully corroborated the allegations.

He was handed down 10-year imprisonment and ordered to pay Rs200,000 fine on counts of hurling threats to the complainant, receiving Rs100,000 protection money and causing a sense of terror.

On default, he would undergo an additional sentence of six-month rigorous imprisonment.The judge acquitted coaccused Talha due to benefit of doubt. The case against an alleged absconding suspect, Mohammad Areeb, was kept on dormant until his arrest or surrender.

Assistant prosecutor general Ghulam Abbas Dalwani argued that the complainant Nighat Hussain lodged an FIR in March 2017, stating that for the past six to seven months she had been receiving phone calls from anonymous callers, who had threatened her to arrange Rs300,000 protection money since her husband was a contractor and a well-to-do man.

As the couple expressed their inability to pay the protection money, the caller threatened to kidnap their daughters and kill the entire family.

The family paid Rs100,000 to the accused out of fear, but they again started making phone calls, asking to arrange Rs300,000.

The investigating officer submitted the investigation report, under Section 173 of the Criminal Procedure Code, charge-sheeting the present accused and his alleged absconding accomplices. The court indicted the detained accused, who pleaded not guilty and opted for trial.