MIANWALI, Jan 21: The killing of a man by alleged kidnappers of his eight-year-old relative is yet another reminder of the police failure to control the crime rate.

Eight-year-old Bilal Ahmad, the only son of businessman Muhammad Yousaf Chabora of Musakhel, was kidnapped by unidentified people when he was returning from school. Eyewitnesses said the kidnappers appeared in a (white) car and they sped towards Chidroo mountains.

The police immediately set up pickets on all routes to Musakhel, but could not arrest the captors. The police raided many suspected outhouses and in one of the hunts, Muhammad Khan alias Hara Bhara, a victim’s relative who used to be a proclaimed offender, reached an outhouse at Sultanwala Sharqi near Chidroo mountains at midnight. As the police did not find any response from the inmates during the operation, Khan scaled the compound wall and the suspects inside shot him dead. Subsequently, the police arrested three suspects present at the outhouse.

Musakhel DSP Shaukat Baloch told Dawn deceased Bhara went to Gul Jehan Chabora’s house suspecting him to be his cousin’s kidnapper where he was shot dead. He, however, confirmed the arrest of three brothers Shah Jehan, Aziz Ahmad and Rafique who had killed the intruder.

The DSP said the police were trying to recover the child and arrest the culprits.

Bilal’s father claimed that no one had contacted him for ransom.

An insider said kidnappers were proclaimed offenders who had taken refuge in Chidroo mountains and they had already demanded a huge sum from the family.