Lakhvi acquitted in Afghan national's kidnapping case

In yet another relief to Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, a Pakistani court on Tuesday acquitted the mastermind of the 2008 Mumbai attack case in connection with the kidnapping of an Afghan national in 2009.

"Islamabad District and Sessions Judge Tanvir Mir on Tuesday accepted the plea of Lakhvi and acquitted him in the kidnapping case of Afhan national Anwer Khan," Lakhvi's counsel Raja Rizwan Abbasi told PTI after the hearing.

He said the law officer could not provide any solid evidence regarding 55-year-old Lakhvi's involvement in the kidnapping.

Abbasi called the case a fabricated one and said it was the government's attempt to keep his client behind the bars after he (Lakhvi) got bail from the trial court in the Mumbai attack case.

Mir heard the case after a judicial magistrate had deferred the indictment of Lakhvi on April 5. Earlier, police had failed to produce him in court due to 'security reasons'

The Islamabad police had booked Lakhvi for the alleged kidnapping of the Afghan national after the Islamabad High Court had suspended his detention in the 2008 Mumbai attacks case on December 26, 2014.

During Tuesday's hearing, police lawyer Amir Nadeem Tabish presented his arguments, saying that Lakhvi had been directly implicated in the abduction case. He claimed that the plaintiff and the abducted person's brother were eyewitnesses in the kidnapping incident.

Nadeem requested the court to summon Lakhvi and indict him in the kidnapping.

However, in its ruling, the court said that the case was filed after a hiatus of six years. It said that the plaintiff in the case did not appear before the court even once and no one was aware of the whereabouts of the kidnapped person.

The court subsequently acquitted Lakhvi in the kidnapping case.

Earlier in February, the judicial magistrate had dismissed a petition seeking the acquittal of Lakhvi in a kidnapping case.

Lakhvi was released from Adiala jail on April 10 following the Lahore High Court's dismissal of his detention orders.

Lakhvi and six others have been charged with planning and executing the 2008 Mumbai attack that killed 166 people and injured over 300.