Girl's kidnapping from Karachi DHA poses challenge for police

KARACHI: The case of a young girl's kidnapping from the Karachi's posh locality Defence Housing Authority (DHA) poses a challenge for the police, which on Sunday lodged a case against four to five unidentified persons for abducting the girl and injuring her male friend.

The police investigators failed to trace and recover the abducted young girl, who remains in the captivity of kidnappers while the injured boy remains in critical condition and is admitted to hospital. The police investigators also failed to ascertain the actual motive behind the incident; however, they suspected that the girl's kidnapping has no link with ransom.

The FIR No771/19 has been registered at the Darakshan police station on behalf of Abdul Fateh Soomro, the father of 23-year-old Haris Fateh, who was wounded in the incident and remains admitted to hospital in critical condition. Though the family of the abducted girl did not receive any ransom call so far, the police in the case have placed Section 365 (kidnapping) and 324/345 (attempt to murder) of the Pakistan Penal Code in the FIR.

The complainant in the FIR recorded his statement saying that the incident was brought into their notice when their son himself phoned the family and informed them about the incident. "I was talking to my son on the cell phone when someone informed me that they were taking him to hospital," the father narrated. The father said that the incident took place at around 8:20pm on Saturday. "Unidentified persons opened fire on my son, intending to kill him," he claimed. "The culprits also took the girl D* away with them while fleeing in a car."

Resident of Chaudhry Khaliquz Zaman Road, Clifton locality, Haris Fateh is doing his BBA from the College of Business Management (CBM). His family was not even aware of his friendship with the abducted girl. "We don't know who the girl is as we did not hear about her in the past from Haris," the father explained while talking to The News. "My son left the home while just saying that he is going to visit his friends."

Police said that a special police team had been formed to probe the case. The special police team is trying to get details of the car used in the incident. Police have also recorded the statement of the rickshaw driver, who told the police that he just heard the gunshot. "A security guard also ran with me but did not find anyone," the rickshaw driver said.

Police investigators, while citing the financial condition of the girl, suspected that the girl was not abducted for ransom. District South police chief Sheraz Nazeer told The News that the police were investigating the case from different angles. "So far we did not find any major breakthrough but we are doing our investigations in different directions," SSP Nazeer admitted. The police investigators were trying to trace the car and the abducted girl D*, a resident of Qayyumabad area while also looking for the CCTV footage and witnesses. The police investigators have also obtained the cell phone of the abducted girl and were also trying to get any possible clue with the help of her cell phone.

Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah on Sunday took notice of the girl's abduction in Karachi's DHA area, and sought a report from the police.

This was the second major incident of kidnapping of a young girl in Karachi's Defence Housing Authority as earlier a young girl, B* was kidnapped in the same manner in May this year and later released after her family paid a handsome amount of ransom to the kidnappers.

On Saturday night, the incident took place in the Defence Housing Authority (DHA) Bukhari Commercial where a group of men in a vehicle fled after kidnapping the girl. The victims were identified as D* and Haris. Haris was later shifted to the Aga Khan University Hospital in critical condition.