KARACHI, Feb 28: A teenage boy kidnapped for ransom a couple of days ago near his home was found shot dead in Malir’s Memon Goth on Monday.

A maternal cousin of the victim and his two aides were arrested and booked for the offences, police officials said.

The investigators said the prime accused, Ali Akbar Soomro, was detained when the victim’s family suspected his role in the kidnapping, and initial investigations led to the recovery of the body.

“Muhammad Hussain, 17, had been missing since the evening of February 26,” said Sub-Inspector Arbab Magsi, SHO of the Khokhrapar police station.

“He was a resident of the D-1 area in Malir Extension Colony and his family approached the police when they found him nowhere. The next morning his family got a call from the kidnappers demanding a ransom for Hussain’s release.”

After registering a case (FIR 55/2011) under Sections 365–A (kidnapping for ransom) and 34 (common intention) of the Pakistan Penal Code against unknown suspects on a complaint of the victim’s paternal uncle, Haji Muhammad Aryar, the police picked up the cousin of Hussain.

“Family members have also shown their suspicions, which were further strengthened by the phone call record and voice of the kidnappers over the phone,” said the Khokhrapar SHO.

“On Monday morning the accused confessed to having committed the crime and disclosed that with the assistance of his two aides he had already gunned down Hussain. He also helped us trace the body in the Memon Goth area.”

He said the police later arrested the suspected aides –– Yar Muhammad Khaskheli and Badal Jokhio –– before recovering the body of the victim.

The boy was found dead with a single bullet wound in his chest in a drain flowing parallel to the Mazar Goth, he added.

“The suspects said they picked up the boy when he left his home on Saturday evening and kept him at his aide’s place overnight,” he said. “The victim was a student of class IX and third among the five siblings. The victim’s father runs a small grocery business in the area.”

He said the suspects had been nominated in the FIR lodged for the kidnapping of Hafeez while Section 302 (premeditated murder) of the PPC had also been incorporated in the document.