The city police on Wednesday said they were trying to locate a 16-year-old maid who was allegedly abducted from an apartment near Karachi’s Seaview.

South Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG) Syed Asad Raza told Dawn.com that the girl was allegedly kidnapped by an unidentified person from the apartment on August 15 and a complaint was subsequently registered by her father.

The month-old incident came to public attention when the victim’s father brought it to the local media’s notice, subsequently drawing significant attention on social media.

Darakhshan police had lodged a first information report (FIR) under Section 365-B (Kidnapping, abducting or inducing woman to compel for marriage etc.) of the Pakistan Penal Code on Aug 17.

The FIR said the daughter had ventured out at 11pm on Aug 15 to buy something but did not return, adding that the family searched for her but could not find anything. The father said he suspected that some “unknown person” had abducted her for “unknown reasons or sexual intercourse”.

DIG Raza said the complainant had informed the police that his daughter worked as a maid at the home of a cousin of a renowned pir (spiritual guide) of Sindh.

The DIG said the initial investigation had revealed that she was using a mobile phone without permission, which greatly angered her employer.

“As a result, the employer contacted her father to bring her back home. Later, the girl allegedly left the residence, and her whereabouts have remained unknown since then,” the officer added.

DIG Raza mentioned that investigators had questioned several individuals and a joint investigation team was constituted by the police for the case.

The DIG said the police were working on the case and some arrests were expected very soon, which may help to solve the case.

Meanwhile, speaking to Time News — a Sindhi TV news channel — the girl’s father expressed concerns, suspecting that his daughter might have been allegedly “killed or sold” by her female employer, Naeema Shah, allegedly a member of a pir family in Pir Jo Goth.

He recounted that he received information about his daughter’s disappearance from the employer’s home in Defence Housing Authority and, upon arriving in Karachi from Khairpur, alleged that he was forcibly confined within the Pir family’s house for two days.

According to the father, neighbours reported hearing the girl’s cries and screams nearly every night. He claimed to have faced threats and warnings of dire consequences when he raised this issue with Naeema Shah’s brother, Pir Lalan Shah.

Ayaz alleged that Lalan cautioned him against pursuing the matter, suggesting that it would render him unwelcome in Pir Jo Goth.

The father appealed to the police to take the case of his missing daughter seriously, expressed his extreme disturbance at the situation and lamented that the police were not giving due attention to the matter.