LAHORE, July 4: Scores of people blocked main G T Road in Shahdara area after a 16-year-old boy abducted a few days ago for ransom was found murdered along the River Ravi on Wednesday.

Traffic on G T Road at Ravi Toll Plaza came to a halt because of the protest. The family placed the body on the road and chanted slogans against the police.

Senior police officers were in the process of holding negotiations with the protesters by 10pm and got the traffic restored later on.

Shahdara Town police inquiries showed that Umer Abbas left his Saeed Park home on June 29 and didn’t return till night. The family received an unknown call around 10:30pm to learn that Umer, a class-IX student, had been abducted for Rs7 million ransom.

Abbas Ali, Umer’s father and a jeweller by profession, struck a bargain with the kidnappers who finally agreed to receive Rs1.2 million.

The family, which initially got a case registered with the local police, kept informing the investigation police about communications with the captors and paid ransom at some location in Kala Shah Kaku on police ‘advice’. The suspects didn’t release the youth.

On Wednesday morning, some children were playing near the river when they spotted a body lying close to the bank and informed the police.

The police identified the boy and believed that he was strangled by the kidnappers.

Crimes Investigation Agency SP Muhammad Umer Virk said police advised the family to pay ransom for the safe recovery of the victim.

He said the kidnappers used the victim’s cell phone to communicate with his father, adding that Kotwali CIA police were investigating the case and would try to trace the suspects.