Dua Mangi identifies three men who ‘kidnapped’ her in 2019

A young law student who became the victim of a kidnapping for ransom has identified three of her alleged abductors during their trial in an anti-terrorism court (ATC).

Dua Mangi had been kidnapped from outside a restaurant in the upmarket DHA neighbourhood on the night of November 30, 2019, and her abductors had also critically wounded her friend Haris Fatah for trying to save her.

The kidnap victim appeared before the ATC-II judge to record her testimony, during which she was shown the five accused — Fayaz Solangi, Zuhaib Qureshi, Waseem Raja, Muzaffar Ali and Tariq — held for her abduction and injuring her friend.

She deposed that she could identify only Qureshi, Ali and Raja but not the rest of them. She said that the three accused were the ones who had bundled her into a car and shot Fatah for trying to foil the kidnapping.

The same suspects are also being tried for the kidnapping of Bisma Salim, who had also been abducted from DHA in May 2019 and released after the payment of her ransom. The amount of ransom in both cases is said to be “hefty”.

According to the investigators, both the women had been kept at a flat in Clifton. They said that the forensic report of the weapons recovered from Ali and Qureshi had also matched with the bullet casings found at the crime scene. The car used in the offence was recovered from Solangi, who was charged under sections 201 and 202 of the Pakistan Penal Code, while the remaining suspects under kidnapping for ransom charges.

The same court also recorded the statement of Bisma’s father Muhammad Salim, who testified that his 20-year-old daughter, who is a blogger and a makeup artist, was kidnapped by these accused men and released after the payment of a ransom.

The court, after recording the statements, ordered the prosecution to bring more witnesses in Bisma’s case on October 23 and in Dua’s case on October 27. The court has already declared an absconding suspect, Agha Mansoor Hussain, who is a former policeman who had been dismissed from service in the past because of his involvement in criminal activities. He was charged in absentia.