KARACHI, Aug 3: Two young friends were kidnapped, tortured and shot dead before their bodies were dumped in a narrow lane behind a cinema off Mauripur Road early Friday morning, said police.

Both were residents of Ranchhore Lane, the officials added.

An official of the Kalri police station quoted the victims’ families as saying that Ali Haider, 16, and Farhan Younis, 20, had left home late Thursday night, but they did not return till dawn. At around 6:30 am, two gunny bags containing their bodies were spotted in the street behind Crown Cinema within the remit of the Kalri police station, the official said.

He said that the victims had been subjected to severe torture and shot in the head. He said the police shifted the bodies to the Civil Hospital Karachi, where the victims were identified.

He quoted their families as saying that both young men were apolitical and dealt in artificial jewellery.

Later, Farhan’s father lodged an FIR (186/2012) against unidentified persons at the Kalri police station.

Bodies found

A gunny bag containing the remains of an unidentified man was found in the Lyari River on Friday morning, police said.

They added that the body had been dismembered. “Arms were cut off at the elbows and legs at the knees,” said Pak Colony SHO Shakil Shawani. “Besides, there are torture marks and gunshot wounds all over the body,” he said.

The police shifted the body to the Civil Hospital Karachi for medico-legal formalities. The remains were later shifted to the Edhi morgue for want of identification.

Between 10 and 15 people, residents said, had come to the riverside in the early hours of Friday and dumped the body in the river. While fleeing, they also fired into the air, they said.

The body was pulled out of the river by area people on a self-help basis, the police said.

The Lyari River has appeared to have become a dumping ground for the bodies of murder victims since last year mid.

Within the remit of the Sachal police station, the body of an unidentified young man was found at the Rati Bajri stop off the Superhighway early Friday morning.

Police said that the victim had been subjected to torture and killed two days ago. The police also found a pack of bottles generally used by professional masseurs lying near the body, indicating that the victim was a masseur.