In 12 hours,cops secure release of abducted girl

Shaheen Fatima,Shiza’s mother,was friends with Naghma and had invited her home for dinner along with Rehan,said police.

Naghma and Rehan plotted to kidnap Shiza with help from Rehan’s friends. After Rehan and Naghma arrived for dinner,Nagma and Shaheen got busy in the kitchen. Rehan took Shiza downstairs and asked her to bring his cigarette packet kept in the car. As planned,Shabbu,Saleem and Zeeshan,who were waiting in another car,picked her and drove away. Rehan returned to the drawing room,said police.

On realising that her daughter was missing,Shaheen called her husband,Afzal Ahmed Ansari who works as executive engineer with the UP Housing and Development Board.

The police reached the Ansari residence and noticed something suspicious about Rehan,an engineering graduate,who runs a travel agency along with another Shabbu. During questioning,Rehan broke down and spilled the beans.

Rehan told police that he kidnapped Shiza in connivance with his friends and kept her at his maternal uncle’s home at Baldev village in Sultanpur. The police rushed there and nabbed Shabbu,Saleem and Zeeshan. The girl was rescued and brought to Lucknow.

Ansari,meanwhile,told police that he received ransom calls from the kidnappers.

“When I was returning home,I received a call. The caller said that my daughter was in his custody and demanded Rs 35 lakh for her release,” said Ansari.

The police said the calls had been made from a mobile number registered on a fake identity.

Additional Superintendent of Police,Trans-Gomti,Paresh Pandey said that Rehan’s maternal uncle was not party to the crime.

“Rehan,who had suffered business losses,had plotted the kidnapping to make quick money. He asked his uncle to let his friends stay at his residence while visiting the village,” said the ASP.

Naghma,a graduate,is married to one Sikander Hashmi,who runs an AC repair shop in Indira Nagar. The police said Sikander was not aware of the crime.