An old affair: Lakhvi bailed in 6-year-old kidnapping case

Defence claimed FIR fabricated ‘under Indian pressure’

ISLAMABAD: A capital court on Thursday granted bail to Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, the alleged mastermind of the Mumbai attacks case, in a six-year-old kidnapping case.

Civil Judge Azhar Nadeem accepted Lakhvi’s bail plea against the surety bonds of Rs200,000. On January 1, 2015, the court sent the convict on a 14-day judicial remand in the case.

On Thursday, when the court took up the matter, Rizwan Abbasi, the counsel for Lakhvi, requested bail for his client. He claimed that the FIR was fabricated and registered “under Indian pressure”. He maintained that the incident took place six years back and police registered a case in 2014, which indicates their “mala fide intention”. But instead of registering a missing case, police registered a kidnapping case, he maintained.

However, prosecutor Amir Tabish opposed the bail. He informed the court that Anwar Khan is still missing, and if  “found dead then premeditated murder charges under section 302 could be added in the FIR”.

The case was registered by Golra police on December 29, 2014 on the complaint of Muhammad Dawood, a resident in the capital’s outskirts. The complainant alleged that Lakhvi had kidnapped his brother-in-law, Anwar Khan, six years ago.

On January 7, the Supreme Court set aside an interim order of the Islamabad High Court which suspended the detention orders of Lakhvi.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 9^th, 2015.