Two foreign students among trio deny abducting student

PETALING JAYA: Three friends, including two foreign students, were charged in the Magistrate’s Court here yesterday with the abduction of a Bangladeshi college student last month.

However, all the three accused Palestinian Al Geshi Waleed, 25, Pakistani Butt Muhammed Azeem, 25, and self-employed R. Hariskumar, 26, pleaded not guilty to the charge which was read out to them separately before Magistrate Zaki Asyraf Zubir.

The three men were charged with the abduction of their friend, SK Md Amit, 26, who is studying at the same college with Al Geshi and Butt Muhammed, by wrongfully confining him at the lobby of Casa Residensi, Jalan Teknologi, Kota Damansara, here at 3 am last July 19.

Al Geshi, Butt Muhammed and Hariskumar were charged under Section 365 of the Penal Code, read together with Section 34 of the same law, which provides an imprisonment for up to seven years and fine, or both, if found guilty.

Deputy public prosecutor Fazeedah Faik, who prosecuted, did not offer bail.

However, lawyer Robert Devan, representing Al Geshi and Butt Muhammed, requested his clients to be allowed bail as they had to attend classes and did not have previous criminal record.

He said the incident happened due to a misunderstanding among the friends.

Lawyer Datuk Suraj Singh, representing Hariskumart, also requested his client to be allowed bail as he was the family抯breadwinner.

The court then allowed the three accused bail of RM3,000 in one surety each and also ordered them to surrender their passport to the court.

The court set Sept 5 for mention. - Bernama