MUZAFFARGARH: Police arrested an assistant sub-inspector (ASI) on Tuesday for concocting the story of his kidnap in Nawab Shah, Sindh, where he was sent for identification of proclaimed offenders.

Four days back, ASI Zafar Hussain of the Rohallanwali Police Station was sent Nawab Shah to identify the suspects in a kidnap case but he went missing there. He contacted last time on Wednesday before his mobile phone was powered off.

The IGP South Punjab had taken notice of the alleged kidnap of Zafar and District Police Officer Hassan Iqbal had sent a special team to Sindh to probe the matter on Monday evening.

The police team arrested Zafar in Sehwan Shareef.

The police investigation showed that ASI had invented a drama of his kidnap to take Rs20m as ransom. It was also found that the suspect wanted to flee to Iran after getting money but his plan did not work and police arrested him.

ASI Zafar told the police that he lived in various hotels in Sindh and he had powered off his mobile phone.

Muzaffargarh police informed Zafar’s family and the DPO issued orders for registration of a case against him.

Published in Dawn, February 24th, 2021