An alleged accomplice of suspects involved in kidnapping a young man for ransom succumbed to bullet wounds in a hospital on Friday. He was injured in an exchange of fire with policemen during a raid on their hideout.
Ali Waqar Zakaria, the 28-year-old son of an engineering consultant for a local oil company, was kidnapped on April 15 by unknown people who demanded Rs100 million in ransom for his release.
When Ali’s mobile phone did not respond despite repeated attempts, Waqar Zakariya lodged a complaint with the Shalimar police that his son had been kidnapped. A First Information Report under section 365-A of Pakistan Penal Code was duly registered.
Police were able to trace a suspect, Akhtar Hussain, who was working as a driver with a local rent-a-car enterprise. During the initial investigations; he told the police that a Toyota Surf, belonging to the company, was used to kidnap Ali. He told the police that the abducted man was taken to a house in `Dhok Paracha’, where three suspects, namely Siraj Khan, Jehangir Khan and Jamal Khan, were residing.
On the basis of the extracted information, Shalimar police raided the hideout of the alleged kidnappers. On seeing the policemen, the kidnappers began firing at the police party and took refuge in the house’s basement.
They continued firing on the policemen from the stairs after which the police had to resort to firing as well. In the exchange of fire, a suspect named Siraj Khan was injured. He was taken to Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences where he succumbed to injuries on Friday afternoon.
The police managed to arrest three suspects from the place. The suspects revealed during interrogation that the kidnapped man had been transferred to Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P). A police party was dispatched to K-P for the recovery of the kidnapped man.
Siraj Khan and his brother Jamal Khan had worked with Zakariya in the same oil company. They had allegedly planned to earn easy money by kidnapping Zakariya’s son.
Siraj, acqauinted with Zakariya, had allegedly called Ali to the place from where he had been abducted.
Killed suspect’s family protests
However, Siraj’s family maintained that he was innocent. They protested his killing in the exchange by blocking the Grand Trunk Road near Tarnol area with his casket. They remained protesting till the filing of this report.
Conversely, the police are certain that Siraj was involved in kidnapping Ali. They also suspect that Ali may have been killed since the kidnappers were known to the family.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 30th, 2011.
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