RAWALPINDI, Aug 17: Pindi police suffered another setback on Thursday after they recovered remains of a nine-year-old boy who had been kidnapped for ransom from Qasimabad, Westridge, police sources said.

Mohammad Bilal, a class 3 student, was playing outside his house when he went missing on July 16, 2006. Mohammad Azeem, the father of the boy, received a telephone call from the kidnappers the same day, demanding Rs5 million ransom.

Police said the negotiations between the kidnapper and the parents continued for a few days and finally they settled on Rs300,000.

“Even after having received the ransom money, the kidnappers did not release the boy and made no telephonic contact with his parents,” a senior police official said.

The kidnapping case was reported with the Westridge police on July 18, 2006 by Koo Khan Wali, the uncle of the boy. Later, a police raiding party led by DSP Rana Shahid was constituted to trace the victim. But efforts by the police proved unproductive.

Later, the police arrested Mohammad Mujahid, one of the relatives of a neighbouring family of Bilal, who confessed to committing the crime. He revealed that he had kidnapped the boy and strangulated him in the green area of Tarnol and threw his body in a Nullah.

Quoting the kidnapper, the police said he detained the boy in the jungle for five days and later murdered him after taking the ransom.

It may be recalled that this was the third such case of kidnapping of a child in which the police have been unable to recover the victim safely without paying ransom money.