‘Kidnapped’ trader freed in Charsadda

CHARSADDA: A trader who was abducted a few days ago on Tuesday reached home after payment of ransom, family sources said.

Sartaj Khan, a trader and president of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Labour Wing, was kidanpped from the Charsadda bazaar on August 10.Talking to a group of traders that went to his residence to greet him on his safe release, Sartaj alleged that Qaiser Jamal, along with his other accomplices, had kidnapped him at gun-point from Mardan Road.

 However, Qaiser Jamal rejected his hand in the kidnapping, saying he was ready to do anything in his power to prove himself innocent. Terming the kidnapping as a well-thought-out plan, he alleged that the kidnapped trader on the behest of Station House Officer (SHO) of City Police Station Imran Khan had staged the drama to implicate him in a fake case.

He said that Sartaj had gone underground and faked his kidnapping to blame and damage his reputation. “I offer to arrange for the visit of five male relatives of the abducted trader to Khana Kaba in Saudi Arabia and swear on Khana Kaba there for their satisfaction that I had no role in the so-called kidnapping case,” he added.

He vowed to sue the SHO and trader Sartaj in the court for booking him in a fake case.Meanwhile, Ghafoor Khan, the brother of the kidnapped trader, claimed that the abductors had demanded Rs1.60 million for the release of Sartaj. He said that his brother was released after payment of the ransom.