LAHORE: The investigations conducted so far by the CIA police have declared the kidnap of playwright Khalilur Rehman Qamar ‘a honey-trap case’, a heinous crime committed by a 12-member gang for Rs10 million ransom.

The CIA said as soon as the kidnap case came to the limelight, two more ‘victims’ approached the police for action against the ‘same gang of criminals’.

During investigations, the police arrested a key suspect namely Hassan Shah hailing from Nankana Sahib who was believed to be the mastermind behind the kidnap.

The CIA claimed to have obtained the criminal record of Hassan Shah including a murder case, occupying properties of the landowners, aerial firing and drug selling.

Declares incident a honey-trap case

The kidnap of the playwright is shrouded in some controversies as to why the young girl planned the heinous crime using her original identity at a known place of Lahore ignoring the fact that the CCTV cameras, and the record of her mobile phone calls to Khalilur Rehman would expose her plan at a later stage if probed by the police.

But Lahore CIA DIG Imran Kishwar rejected all the ‘conflicting stories’ attributed to the kidnap incident, particularly, the one that it might have been a ‘scripted plan’.

He said one of the key players of the kidnap incident, Amna Urooj, was used for honey trapping of the drama writer. Sharing further details, the DIG said she had obtained the rented flat in Bahria Town just for a short period to execute the plan.

The flat was rented in the name of a property dealer, the DIG said adding that the mobile phone number she used in the crime for honey trapping was also not in her own name.

As soon as Khalilur Rehman reached the flat, the gang completed the task. Prime suspect Amna Urooj deleted all the records including mobile phone calls and messages she sent to the playwright and her gang members.

She also switched off the cell phone and obtained a new SIM to use it for communication with her accomplices, the DIG said.

The CIA police took the lead when it obtained the CCTV footage installed around the rented flat, in the housing society and the other places where the criminals took Mr Khalil.

The latest technology the CIA police used helped them to get a significant lead to unearth the crime plot and involvement of other members of the gang, he said.

He added that the CIA police managed to recover the entire ‘deleted record’ from the mobile phone of Amna Urooj.

The CIA police first traced the ringleader Hassan Shah through the calls detail record (CDR) of the mobile phone used by Urooj and arrested him during a raid.

“A special CIA team reached Nankana Sahib and the local police unveiled that Hassan Shah was a notorious criminal of the district,” Imran Kishwar said.

He said as per the criminal record provided by the Nankana Sahib police, Hassan Shah was involved in a murder case, drug selling, land grabbing and other criminal activities.

During interrogation, Hassan told the CIA the names of other members of his gang who were part of the kidnap plan.

Of them, Zeshan appeared to be another prime suspect who was a close aide to Hassan Shah and both the suspects hatched the kidnap plan to obtain a huge ransom amount from the playwright.

About Amna Urooj’s role, Imran Kishwar said Hassan Shah and Zeshan used her for honey trapping.

She obtained the personal number of Khalil from his manager, the DIG CIA said, adding that Amna trapped him for a special meeting at her flat.

Meanwhile, talking to media persons here on Monday, the DIG said some of the gang members were highly dangerous as some CCTV footages showed them handling and shifting sophisticated illegal weapons.

The police recovered from them vehicles, wireless sets, modern rifles, pistols and several live bullets, the DIG said, adding that two girls were among the 12-member gang.

Published in Dawn, July 23rd, 2024