KARACHI, Jan 1 The administrative judge of the anti-terrorism courts, Karachi, Justice Salman Ansari, on Thursday remanded two suspects in police custody till Jan 8 in a kidnap and murder case of a 12-year-old girl student of a seminary.

A team of the Anti-Violent Crime Cell arrested the suspects — a seminary teacher, Ayub, and Ahsan — on Dec 30.

According to the prosecution, Ayub kidnapped the daughter of Mohammad Saleem on Dec 23 in the limits of Moch Koh police station and demanded ransom for her release.

However, the suspect killed the girl with the help of an associate, Ahsan, when the victim's family failed to pay the ransom, it added.

A case (FIR 354/2008) was registered under Section 365-A of the Pakistan Penal Code at Moch Koh police station on the complaint of the victim's father.

The investigators said that the prime suspect, Ayub, had confessed during the preliminary interrogation to having kidnapped and killed the girl.

The police recovered the body on the information given by the suspect.

Wall construction stayed

A division bench of the Sindh High Court comprising Justice Azizullah M. Memon and Justice Faisal Arab on Thursday stayed the construction of a wall allegedly being carried out by the commandant of the Malir station headquarters on a road in the cantonment area and asked the respondents to appear in court on January 6, adds PPI.

The petitioner, Javed Mohammad Quddusi of Abuzer Ghaffar Cooperative Housing Society, submitted through Advocate Anwar Tariq that the Sindh Board of Revenue allotted 45 acres to the cooperative society in Scheme 33, Malir Cantt, in 1980.

The petitioner submitted that the society divided 28 acres into three blocks in sector 53-A, Scheme 33, whose layout plan, having a 150-foot-wide road, was approved by the authorities concerned.

Recently, the officials of the Malir station headquarters started digging the same road, shared by the residents living in the blocks, to construct a wall.

He maintained that the construction would block residents' access to their houses.

He prayed to the court to direct the respondents to stop the activity and grant a stay on the construction.

The bench granted the stay on the construction work after the hearing and issued notices to the commandant of the Malir station headquarters, the director of military estates, the ECO of the cantonment board of Malir and others to appear in court on January 6.

Protective bail granted

Judge Azizullah M. Memon of the Sindh High Court on Thursday allowed protective bail to two accused, employees of Sindh government press, in a murder case.

According to police, Sarfaraz Siddique lodged an FIR at the Artillery Maidan police station alleging that Mazhar Alam and Masood Alam killed his brother-in-law, Ghulam Haider, on Dec 17, 2008.

The accused filed an application through their counsel, Mansoorul Haq Solangi and Ghulam Hasnain Shah, and prayed to the court to grant them protective bail before arrest.

The judge granted them 15-day protective bail with a surety of Rs50,000.