MIANWALI, March 27 A known cloth merchant has been kidnapped for a Rs6 million ransom, his family revealed on Saturday.

Reports said Sher Muhammad Ansari, who runs a cloth shop at Main Bazaar, went to Rawalpindi to purchase cloth but did not return and lost contact with the family.

One of his sons claimed that their father contacted them after two days, informing them about his ordeal.

Later, he said, the family got a message from an unknown person that their father was in the tribal area and would be released after payment of Rs6 million ransom.

The family of Sher Muhammad, who also owns a shopping plaza at Muslim Bazaar besides other property in the city, told this correspondent that negotiations for the safe recovery of their head were going on with the kidnappers.

District Police Officer Abdul Jabbar Rana said Sher Muhammad Ansari had been kidnapped from Rawalpindi and he contacted his sons from Mardan. He said the Rawalpindi police were bound to take up the case (because of jurisdiction), but he would still extend all-out help to the family.