Kidnapped on Nov 30, Dua Mangi’s return home puts big question mark on police performance

Islamabad: Karachi police have failed to resolve the mystery shrouding the kidnapping case of 20-year-old law student Dua Mangi and her sudden release a week later from alleged kidnappers.

The investigators are still waiting for the girl to return to a normal frame of mind and record her statement about the entire episode.

20-year-old Dua Mangi was kidnapped from Khyaban-e-Bukhari of Karachi Defence Housing Authority (DHA) area on November 30 by unidentified men.

She was passing by a road with her friend Haris Fateh Soomro when unidentified gunmen abducted her.

During the abduction, the kidnappers also shot and critically injured Haris. Later, an FIR was lodged by the Darakhshan police and a team was also constituted under the supervision of the DIG South, assisted by the Citizens-Police Liaison Committee to recover the girl from her kidnappers.

However, Dua Mangi, whose kidnapping a week ago had shocked the entire city, suddenly returned home, in the early hours of Saturday. It appears her kidnappers decided to release her in return for the ransom money.

However, according to her family, Dua Mangi is in a state of shock and trauma, therefore, cannot record her statement. The investigators are, meanwhile, waiting to record her statement.

So far, they have failed to make headway as to who was behind her kidnapping and how she managed to return home.

A parallel is being drawn between Dua Mangi and Bisma who was also kidnapped some six months ago in May this year from DHA Karachi and returned home after reportedly payment of ransom by her family to the kidnappers. In both cases whereabouts of the kidnappers are unknown.

Dua’s family members in the meanwhile have decided to keep mum refusing to share any information about the kidnapping.

Earlier, they denied reports about paying ransom money to kidnappers while police officials remained tight-lipped on the matter.

On Sunday, it was being reported that Dua Nisar Mangi’s kidnappers were involved in a shootout with police officers three days ago in which two policemen of the Aziz Bhatti police station were injured.

The suspects, who were wearing masks at the time, had opened fire on the police vehicle as soon as they saw it. Reports further said that the shells obtained from the encounter matched with those obtained from the gun of Mangi’s kidnappers that was used against her friend, Haris Soomro.

Earlier, DIG Police South Zone, Sjarkeel Kharal had said “It appears to be a case of kidnapping for ransom.” He had said that it had been ascertained through investigation that the student was kidnapped for ransom.

Meanwhile, members of civil society have also staged a protest at the city’s Teen Talwar roundabout condemning police inefficiency in the entire episode.