ISLAMABAD: A man abducted from Islamabad was found murdered in Mardan on Monday, while police claim to have arrested the suspected kidnapper on Tuesday, Dawn has learnt.

Police described the killing as “an act of revenge by his girl friend”.

The victim, a resident of F-6/1, was allegedly abducted by a group of four to five persons from outside his house at midnight on May 4. A case was registered with Kohsar Police Station under Section 365 of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) on a complaint lodged by the victim’s father.

Investigators later spotted a photo of the victim’s body on social media, posted by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Police for identification purposes. They subsequently contacted Mardan police, who were informed of the abduction.

The investigation was conducted under the supervision of SP(city zone) Dr Ayaz Hussain, who constituted multiple teams to trace the victim and identify the culprits.

Teams reviewed CCTV footage and call record data, through which they spotted a car near the victim’s house that subsequently moved toward the motorway. The vehicle exited at the Islamabad toll plaza and headed toward Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

The registration number turned out to be fake, but the car’s M-tag helped investigators trace the owner, a native of Mingora, who was found in Sawabi. He told police that he had rented the car to some individuals from Swat.

During the investigation, it also emerged that the victim and two other men had cases registered against them in Islamabad, allegedly at the instigation of a woman who, according to police, sought to pressure them into marriage.

The woman later confessed that she had been in a relationship with the victim and two other men.

She alleged that all three had ended the relationship months earlier, and she decided to take revenge.

Published in Dawn, May 6th, 2026