Kidnappers picked Dua Mangi after seeing her dressing

KARACHI: Mystery continues to lurk around the kidnapping and the circumstances of release of 20-year-old law student Dua Nisar Mangi, leaving more questions unanswered to solve the riddle.

The police on Monday recorded Dua Mangi’s statement, who was recently released after a week-long abduction amidst conflicting reports that her family paid ahefty ransom amount for her release.

According to media reports, the distraught Dua told the police that the kidnappers had kept her hands and feet chained in a room of a house, at some far away isolated location of the city, but could not specify exactly what area. The traumatised girl said the kidnappers told her that they had mistakenly abducted her after seeing her dressing out of belief that she hailed from the moneyed class. "They did not mistreat or hurt her in anyway," the sources quoting Dua told the media.

It was also reported in the media that Dua’s sister through a video on WhatsApp informed the kidnappers of their lifestyle and their house being located in the low end locality of Korangi. On this, the kidnappers who were speaking in Urdu dropped the demand for ransom, Dua reportedly told the team.

The senior LEA officers who attended the session recording Mangi's statement asked her different questions about the profile of kidnappers including the language, appearance and the way they were dressed. The police also asked about their behaviour and how they treated her to get clues about the trends, pattern and identity of the kidnappers gang. They also asked her about the whereabouts of the place where she was kept detained.

DIG South Sharjeel Kharal, however, refused to comment on Dua Mangi’s statement when The News asked him about it. Confusion however continues to linger around the kidnapping. One of Mangi's relatives who wished not to be named insisted that the family had paid the ransom money to the kidnappers.

On Nov 30, Dua was kidnapped at gunpoint from Karachi’s DHA Bukhari Commercial Area while her accompanying friend Haris was shot multiple times as he tried to resist. Haris, critically wounded in the incident, is under treatment at the Aga Khan University Hospital. The CCTV footage showed Dua and Haris walking down the street minutes before the incident. In another footage, the kidnappers are seen forcibly taking away their victim. Mangi returned home safely on Friday night.

According to media reports, a special team of investigators comprising police, Anti Violent Crime Cell and officials of intelligence agencies have been formed to delve deeper into the kidnapping that shocked and agitated the whole city as this was not the first of its kind. Bisma was another victim of the high profile kidnappings that have traumatised the city in recent months. However, senior police officials denied any new high profile investigation panel being established. “No another team has been formed,” Zone South police chief Sharjeel Kharal told The News. “We (Zone South) police alone are investigating the matter.”

However, three days have passed since the release of Dua Mangi from the captivity of kidnappers but the police remain clueless and continue to be groping in the dark. The kidnappers continue to lurk in the city haunting everyone living here.