KARACHI, March 16: A 21-year-old man, who was kidnapped for ransom six days ago allegedly by his two friends, was found dead in a drain early on Friday morning on a lead given by the suspects.

Police said Sikander Ali, the only brother of three sisters, was kidnapped on March 11 in Jauharabad police area and his captors initially demanded Rs2.5 million for his release. They said the kidnappers agreed to accept Rs145,000 as ransom after a series of negotiations with the victim’s family, though they had already strangled him on the same night.

The suspects were caught red-handed late on Thursday night by a joint team of the Citizen-Police Liaison Committee and Anti-violent Crime Cell moments after they received the ransom from the victim’s family near Ziauddin Hospital in Nazimabad.DSP Amir Hameed of AVCC told Dawn that suspects Faiq and Waqas, both in their early 20s, were friends of the victim, whose father was in the United States. He said the victim left his Sky Land apartment near Water Pump on March 11 after the suspect called him on phone at the house of Faiq in North Karachi.

The DSP said the suspects made him drink liquor and strangled him when he became intoxicated at the house of Faiq, who had sent his family to the house of his in-laws. “Later, they dumped the body in a cupboard and called the victim’s family from victim’s cellular phone,” he added.

He said the family reported the matter to the CPLC and police, who started monitoring the phone calls from the kidnappers to the victim’s family. “They initially demanded Rs2.5 million for the release of Sikander, but after a series of negotiations they agreed on Rs145,000,” he added.

Finally, the kidnappers asked the victim’s family to leave the ransom at a designated place near Ziauddin Hospital. “The AVCC and CPLC officials took discreetly positions close to the designated place and subsequently arrested the two suspects as they picked up the ransom,” he added.

The DSP said the body of the victim was recovered around 1:30am on Friday on a lead given by the suspects. He said the suspects had thrown the body in a drain in North Karachi as it started stinking after two days.

The family said the man was scheduled to leave for Australia shortly for studies as he had recently obtained student visa.

The DSP said the suspects were aware of a huge deposit in the account of victim’s mother she had arranged for processing the visa application of her son.

He said suspect Faiq used to work at a welding shop while his accomplice Waqas was jobless. “The two were earlier arrested in a robbery case,” he added.

The DSP said the two suspects had been remanded to police custody for five days by a judicial magistrate for further interrogation and investigation. He said the police had also seized the victim’s cellular phone from the suspects.