PESHAWAR, Feb 8: Police have failed to recover a driver and a cleaner of a passenger van kidnapped nearly three years ago in Mardan city. The father of the driver, Abdul Ghaffar Parwana, resident of Sarfarz Colony on Phandu road , told this reporter that his son Abdus Sattar Khan was kidnapped along with the cleaner of the van, Ahmad Jan, in Mardan on Feb 28, 2001, allegedly by a gang of Lund Khwar, Mardan district.

The 70-year-old man alleged that the two men were kidnapped by Sher Zaman and Mir Zaman and their father Ehsanullah, and Afzal Khan, all residents of Lund Khwar and also alleged that the brother-in-law of Abdus Sattar Khan, Mirza, was also involved.

He said that initially the police in Peshawar, Mardan and Takht Bhai did not register the case on the excuse that the incident did not occur in their respective jurisdictions.

The kidnappers were demanding Rs180,000 as ransom for the release of his son, Mr Parwana said, adding that they were also demanding Rs250,000 from the owner of the passenger van for the vehicle.

"I paid Rs32,000 to the kidnappers and later overpowered three of them at gunpoint from Lund Khwar main market on May 23, 2001," he claimed. But when he handed them over to the police, they were released by Sheda, the SHO of police station concerned, the next day without registering any case against the accused.

Mr Parwana said that after hectic efforts the crime branch of the Peshawar police registered a case on the directives of the IGP and later arrested the kidnappers. But the investigation officer inspector, Fazle Karim, instead charged the kidnappers in a robbery case and the Peshawar High Court granted them bail, he lamented.

The owner of the passenger van reached some agreement with the kidnappers as later the police recovered the vehicle, which they claimed was left abandoned by the accused.