Hindu girl rescued after gun battle with kidnappers in Karachi

Karachi, July 20: A three-year-old Hindu

in Pakistan was

by police in an operation during which her four captors were killed.

Mahi Suchdev, daughter of Sunil Sachdev was kidnapped last week and a ransom of Rs 50 million was demanded by her kidnappers, police said.

"Mahi had been taken away on July 13 by the family's house servant Rano, from the doctors' mess in Walika Hospital where her father and mother both doctors worked," said Citizens-Police Liaison Committee (CPLC) chief Ahmed Chinoy and Anti-Violent Crime Cell (AVCC) head SSP Niaz Ahmed Khoso while addressing a joint press conference here yesterday.

The gun battle also left five policemen and one employee of the CPLC wounded, the police said. The family engaged the kidnappers in talks over the ransom amount which was scaled down to Rupees 600,000 and it was agreed that the ransom would be paid near Kashif Centre, the Dawn reported.

A police team was already deployed there when a kidnapper came to collect the money the police challenged him and in the ensuing encounter the suspect sustained a single bullet in his abdomen, while his accomplices managed to escape in the car.

"The wounded suspect told the police that the girl was kept in Neelum Colony," said SSP Khoso. "He did not tell his name but only identified himself as Hindu. He died while being taken to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre," he added.

The police later gunned down the three accomplices from the hideout in the congested Neelum Colony. Following the shoot-out, the police added that four Kalashnikovs, four pistols were seized from the kidnappers. The identity of other suspects could not be ascertained immediately, the officials said.

PTI