MARDAN, Feb 5: The body of a Pakistani businessman, who had gone missing in Afghanistan, was found from a dry well in Kabul and was later buried in a Kabul graveyard on Friday.

It is learnt that Hafizullah Khalil, a resident of Islamabad, who had a huge construction business in Germany and UAE and recently launched projects in Afghanistan, visited Kabul in December in connection with a business deal. He was due to return on Dec 30, but suddenly disappeared.

Later, it was learnt that some unknown kidnappers had kidnapped him while he was travelling on the Jalalabad Highway. His relatives received a call from kidnappers who demanded five million dollars for his release.

Hafizullah's father, Samargul, informed the police about the call and also expressed suspicion over some Afghan nationals living in his area of being involved in the case.

When a police party raided the residence of Afghan nationals they fled to Afghanistan through the Torkham crossing. The Jalalabad police were informed about the kidnappers who arrested the culprits.

During interrogation, the culprits told police that that they had killed Hafizullah and had dumped his body in a deserted well. Hafizullah's father and other relatives later visited Kabul and held his funeral on Friday which was also attended by some Afghan ministers and officials. His soyem will be held on Sunday in Islamabad.

COPS SUSPENDED: District Police Officer (DPO), Qudratullah Marwat, on Saturday suspended seven constables on the charges of dereliction of duty, besides imposing fines on five constables.

Sources said the action had been taken as part of an accountability drive launched by the DPO in the department. Those suspended by the DPO are; Zafar Iqbal, Akbar Wasi, Fazal Raziq, Noorul Haque, Zahoor Akbar, Mohammad Arif and Mohammad Sarwar while policemen fined included Mehrabgul, Shah Zaman, Arman Ali, Iftikhar Abdul Hamid and Aurangzeb.