Murder most foul: Missing boy found dead

Family blames police for taking no action to track kidnappers; residents protest

RAWALPINDI:

A 13-year-old boy who was allegedly kidnapped for ransom on Saturday was found dead in a graveyard in the limits of Sadiqabad Police Station on Sunday.

Sagheer Ahmed Awan, the boy’s father, told the police that his son Mohsin Sagheer went out in the afternoon and did not come back. When the boy failed to show up home after dusk, the family looked for him and also made announcements from mosques.

Awan said during the electricity load-shedding hour (from 8pm-9pm), a letter was dropped into the house. The letter reportedly said the boy had been kidnapped for ransom and the family was told to leave Rs8 million in a bathroom of a shrine near the Islamabad Expressway by 7am in the morning. The kidnappers had also warned against reporting the incident to the police.

The family however informed the police, who registered a kidnapping-for-ransom case against unidentified persons.

However, the boy was found dead in a graveyard near the same shrine the family was told to leave the ransom amount at. Police said the body bore signs of torture.

Police have also added the murder section to the FIR.

The family has blamed police inaction over the death of their loved one, saying they informed the police on Saturday but they did not take any action to trace the kidnappers or recover the boy.

The victim’s relatives and local residents blocked the Islamabad Expressway from Sunday afternoon for several hours in protest against the murder and demanded action against the criminals. They also placed the boy’s body in the middle of the road near Dhoke Kala Khan [on the expressway] as a sign of protest.

Incoming traffic from Rawat Toll Plaza was blocked from near Gulberg Town; while commuters went on a free-for-all to get to their desired destinations.

Sadiqabad SHO Malik Allah Yar said the police were investigating the case. At the time this story was filed, there were also reports that the inspector assigned to the case was suspended by police high-ups for showing negligence in recovering the boy.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 23^rd,  2015.