MULTAN: A seven-year old child who was kidnapped for ransom was killed by the kidnappers, later found out to be family friends, due to the alleged negligence of police.

On the other hand, police have arrested the suspects involved in the incident.

The child, Abdullah Niaz, a resident of Shah Rukn-i-Alam Colony, went missing on Jan 18. His family informed police who did not bother even to register a case.

Abdul Ghaffar, the victim’s uncle, told Dawn police had refused to lodge the case and alleged that the family was not telling truth.

“On Jan 19, we received a call from a mobile phone and the caller demanded Rs10 million for the release of the child,” he said, adding that they, once again, contacted police and informed them about the call, giving them the mobile phone number from where the call was made but police did not move.

Ghaffar said the family received another call on Jan 21. This time, the family provided the computerised national identity card (CNIC) number of the person in whose name the subscriber identification module (SIM) was registered to the city police officer who ordered lodging of the case on the complaint of the mother of the child, Rehana Bibi, a widow.

The body of the child was found in Khanewal district where Kuhna police buried it.

Quoting Khanewal police, Ghaffar said the child was killed on Jan 20.

Multan police contacted the family on Jan 24 and informed them about the incident with the claim that the police had arrested all those involved in the incident.

Police arrested Mudasira Naureen, a family friend of the victim, and the other suspects, her mother Naseem Akhtar, Hasan Javed, Niaz and Muhammad Saleem, on charges of kidnapping and murdering the child. They have confessed to committing the crime.

The CPO appreciated the police team for its ‘efficiency’.

The child’s body was exhumed and brought to Multan from Khanewal and handed over to the family for burial.

Published in Dawn January 27th, 2015

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