August 20, 2008	Wednesday	Sha’aban 17, 1429

LAHORE, Aug 19: Three alleged kidnappers were killed in an ‘encounter’ with a team of Crime Investigation Agency (CIA) of the City Division police in Shahdara Town early on Tuesday.

The ‘outlaws’ were identified as Shakeel Ahmad, 35, Muhammad Akram, 25, and Muhammad Arif, 30.

No CIA personnel was injured in the shootout which took place on Kala Khatai Road.

This was CIA’s second encounter in eight days. Earlier, on Aug 11, it had gunned down two members of a kidnappers’ gang near Phubtian Chowk on Raiwind Road.

According to the First Information Report, some unidentified people had kidnapped 18-year-old Haris, son of Hamid Manzoor, a resident of Z-Block, Defence Housing Authority, from phase-5 on April 22 last. An abduction case was registered against unidentified kidnappers on April 24.

The accused later contacted Haris’ family by telephone and demanded a Rs10 million ransom. They released Haris, a contractor by profession, after 28 days, after getting ransom from his father. One of the kidnappers was later arrested by police when Haris spotted him in a market.

A Defence B police official told Dawn that Haris visited DHA H-Block market on Aug 14 and spotted the accused sitting with some children at a burger point.

When he raised an alarm, some locals and two personnel of Defence B police present there caught the accused, Shakeel of Jhang, and took him to the police station. The accused was later handed over to a CIA city division team led by inspector Umer Farooq Khan.

The Defence B official claimed the same group was involved in the killing of a relative of a former Sindh chief minister.

A police source told Dawn that the CIA officials thoroughly interrogated Shakeel and, on his pointation, arrested Akram and Arif, both residents of Muridke.

They were interrogated for further disclosures. Their fourth accomplice, Abbas Malhi, whose children were present with Shakeel at H-Block market, is still at large.

Sources said there was a difference of opinion between two senior officials of the Capital City Police over their fate, with one wanting their elimination in a staged encounter while the other in favour of their court trial.

After getting the nod of their high-ups, the sources said the CIA took the three to Kala Khatai Road and sealed their fate.

Akram carried a head money of Rs200,000.

Meanwhile, the bodies were shifted to the city morgue for post-mortem examination to be carried out by a medical board of Mian Munshi Hospital.

Shahdara Town police registered a case against the deceased and two absconders under sections 324, 353, 186, 224 and 225 of the Pakistan Penal Code.

This was the sixth encounter under the present set-up of the Capital City Police since May.