BANNU, Jan 29: Search for the missing Punjab minister for sports and culture appears to have come full circle following denial by the key suspects about the whereabouts of Naeemullah Shahani.

Senior police officials, involved in the interrogation of four key suspects into the kidnapping of Mr Shahani, admitted having extracted no information that could lead to the recovery of the minister.

It has now been decided to move the four suspects back to Bannu along with a team of investigators from the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) from Peshawar.

Officials said that the decision was taken after the suspects denied they were involved in the kidnapping. "We have moved them back. We thought it was better to confront them with those who had provided the information about their involvement in the kidnapping," a senior police official from Peshawar told Dawn on phone.

"They have alibis and they have their own version of the story so we thought it was better to take them to Bannu and verify what they have said," the official said.