GUJRAT, Feb 3: Kidnappers had to escape on Friday night without a ransom of Rs0.4 million they demanded from the family of an abducted Supreme Court official.

SC office superintendent Tariq Bashir, his brother Arif Bashir and two other people Ishtiaq and Raja Iftikhar were on their way to Mirpur from Sarai Alamgir in a car (LWN-3202). Near Pind Aziz, their car was intercepted by four people boarding a car (SWB-1451). They held them up at gunpoint. They took them to a nearby deserted house where they snatched cash and valuables from them. Holding superintendent Tariq Bashir for ransom, they took him away in his car.

Sarai Alamgir police registered a case on the complaint of Arif Bashir. The kidnappers, who left the car near Manglia, contacted Bashir’s family from his cell and demanded Rs20 million as ransom. They reduced ransom from Rs20 million to Rs10 million when the family showed its inability to pay such an amount.

The deal was struck at Rs0.4 million. The kidnappers asked the family to put the amount in a car and leave it at a place near Kharian. The family followed the instruction. Four kidnappers along with the abducted official took away the car. It reportedly overturned near Kotla owing to overspeeding. They got panicked and had to escape without ransom. They also left five kalashnikovs in the car. The police believed that PO Shahzad, alias Gonglu, and his gang were involved in the kidnap. — Correspondent