ATTOCK, Aug 9: The body of a plaza owner kidnapped for ransom from the Hazro police limits about six weeks back was recovered near Pashtakara village in Peshawar, local police said on Tuesday.

Mohammad Safdar was kidnapped by five persons near Jatiyal village on June 28. Later, the kidnappers contacted the relatives of the victim and demanded Rs600 million for his safe release. The family was reportedly negotiating with the kidnappers.

Police sources said the relatives of the victim on Tuesday received information from the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa police about recovery of Mr Safdar’s body at a deserted place.

Soon after, relatives of the victim along with some local notables rushed to Peshawar to bring home the body.

When contacted, Tehrik-i-Insaf local leader Qazi Ahmed Akbar, who is also a close family friend of the victim, said the body had been brought to the village and funeral would be offered at 8am on Wednesday. He said presumably there was no bullet wound on the body which showed that the kidnap victim might have died of heart attack. However, he added, the cause of his death would be ascertained in the postmortem report which would be received in a few days. — Our Correspondent