LAHORE: A stage actress, her husband and brother-in-law were arrested by police for allegedly kidnapping a minor child from Delhi Gate, Multan, on Wednesday.

As per police, two and a half years old Naqeeb Ullah, son of Mian Gull, went missing from Kari Jamandan street in Farooq Town, Delhi Gate, Multan.

Mian Gull searched for his son on his own and later approached police.

In his complaint to police, Gull said his minor son went to a nearby shop from where two unidentified motorcyclists kidnapped him. On his complaint, Delhi Gate police registered a kidnapping case against the two unidentified kidnappers and started investigation.

Multan City Police Officer (CPO) Khurrum Shehzad Haider took notice of the incident and constituted a 12-member police team to trace the suspects and recover the boy. The police team collected footage of the closed-circuit TV (CCTV) cameras in area and after a thorough investigation concluded that a stage actress, Dr Aima Khan, her husband Mudassir and brother-in-law Muzaffar, were involved in kidnapping the minor.

Later, police teams conducted a raid on Ms Khan’s house, arrested the three suspects and recovered the minor who was later handed over to his parents in a ceremony held at the CPO’s office on Wednesday.

Elaborating the findings of investigation, a police source said the stage actress had contracted marriage with a resident of Renala Khurd four years ago but was childless. She was told by doctors that she could not conceive. He said the actress was so desperate that she gave Rs500,000 to her brother-in-law and asked him to get her a baby for adoption by any means.

Compelled by Ms Khan, her husband and brother-in-law kidnapped the minor boy from Delhi Gate area and handed him over to her.

Meanwhile, a police press release says the suspects had kidnapped the child for ransom. The CPO says the suspects were being interrogated and would soon be presented before a court.

“It was a blind case and the police teams had searched more than 40 houses in the area to arrest the suspects and recover the child,” he says.

The CPO announced cash prizes and commendatory certificates for the police team for recovering the child within 30 hours of his kidnap.

Multan operations wing SSP Aamir Niazi told Dawn that the parents of the kidnapped child did not receive any ransom call.

Published in Dawn, January 13th, 2022