SHC upholds death penalty of kidnapping, murder convicts

They had killed minor boy on parents’ failure to pay Rs100m ransom

KARACHI:

The Sindh High Court (SHC) rejected the appeal against death sentence of three convicts charged with kidnapping a 12-year-old boy and killing him when the boy's parents could not pay Rs100 million ransom the criminals had demanded.

A two-member bench headed by Justice KK Agha observed that the crime of Shamsher Ali, M. Salman and Abdul Sattar did not deserve any mercy from the court. Upholding the death penalty handed down by the trail court, the high court bench rejected their appeal.

According to the prosecution, 12-year-old Muhammad Shahid son of Muhammad Ali, a resident of Saeedabad disappeared from the area on January 6, 2021. Muhammad Ali had filed a missing case with the Saeedabad police station. The next day, the kidnappers contacted Muhammad Ali on the phone and demanded a ransom of Rs100 million.

The distraught parents pleaded with the kidnapers that they do not have that much cash. Unlike even the most hardened professional kidnappers who negotiate as per the status of the family of the kidnaped person, the accused killed the child on not receiving the desired amount.

Police investigated the case and arrested the accused. A special court on May 2022 sentenced Shamsher Ali, M. Salman and Abdul Sattar to be hanged by neck till death.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 2^nd, 2023.