January 28, 2002	Monday	Ziqa’ad 13, 1422

Please Visit our Sponsor (Ads open in separate window).

JHANG, Jan 27: The mystery of abduction and murder of nine-year-old Abid Mumtaz, whose body was found from a sugar cane field on Gojra Road on Jan 23, has been solved by the police with the help of sniffer dogs. Two perpetrators of this heinous crime have been arrested.

According to a police department press release, a kidnap case was registered against unknown persons by the Kotwali police.

As soon as the body was found, it was subjected to post-mortem examination which revealed strangulation as cause of death. The clothes and the sack (containing the body) were preserved. Sniffer dogs were also employed.

Six people — boy’s aunt Nasira, her husband Azam, neighbourer Asif Shah, Hameed Ahmad, Qaiser Abbas and Ejaz Ahmad — were taken into custody for investigation upon the receipt of some information conveyed to the father of the deceased by one Azhar, a resident of the same locality.

The clothes of the deceased and the sack were placed in the cane field from where the body was found and the sniffer dogs were taken to that place and made to sniff those articles. All the suspected persons were blind folded and made to stand in a line. The dogs, however, reportedly pointed out Azhar on whose identification six persons were arrested.

“Azhar was subjected to scientific investigation as he was interrogated separately by the members of an investigation team. He ultimately wilted under vigorous interrogation and divulged that he, in collaboration with his friend, Waheed, had kidnapped Abid Mumtaz for ransom and due to fear of disclosure had committed his murder,” the press release said.

Further investigation revealed that Azhar had no friend by the name of Waheed, and Mubashir of the same mohallah, who was the brother of the wife of Azhar, was his collaborator. He admitted that about 21 days prior to the kidnapping, they had purchased chloroform from a medicine corner at Fowara Chowk, Jhang Saddar.

On the day of occurrence, by the use of chloroform, they made Abid Mumtaz unconscious in front of his house, lifted him and covered him with a shawl. They took him to a free dispensary of Mohallah Chandanwala. Mubashir kept the boy with him at the dispensary for some time, while Azhar went ahead to ensure ‘clearance’. Thereafter they took him to a room above a shop owned by Azhar and kept him there till late in the evening.

Azhar asked his pregnant wife to go to her parents’ house. After she had left, both the accused brought Mumtaz to the house of Azhar. Most of the time they kept him sedated by administering strong tranquillizers.

One day when both the accused were not present in the room, the boy got awakened. He opened the drawer of the dressing table and found a photograph and a diary of Azhar. He recognized him and upon arrival of Mubashir, told him that he had learnt that this was the house of Azhar who used to visit his neighbourer, Asif Shah. This disclosure worried both the culprits. First they planned to cut the tongue of the boy so that he might not reveal their names. Later, they thought that Mumtaz was an intelligent boy and could write down their names.

Mubashir was an accused in another criminal case. On Jan 15, 2002, when his bail was cancelled, he was arrested and jailed.

Azhar was left alone to take care of the kidnapped boy. He could not handle the situation single-handedly and in a state of nervousness decided to get rid of the boy. He took a motorcycle from his brother and also collected a sack from his brother’s shop. Upon returning home, he consumed liquor and strangulated Abid Mumtaz by tying his muffler around his neck. He put the body in the sack and dumped it in a cane field in the area of Chak 268-JB, some seven kilometres from here.

Our reporter adds: Speaking at a press conference at the District Police Lines, Lahore, Jhang SSP Tariq Yasin admitted that the killing was a police failure.

The SSP, who was accompanying the father of the victim, had no answer except for making stories in one way or the other to defend himself when he said he had brought the complainant to Lahore for condolence only. For this purpose, he said, a meeting was arranged between the complainant and the Punjab IGP Malik Asif Hayat.

The SSP admitted that the police failed to work properly on the kidnapping side of the case. Though, he claimed, police did make a success in investigating murder side of the case that led to the arrest of the killer.