MULTAN, Sept 15: Yazman police in Bahawalpur district claimed on Sunday having arrested the main accused in the tongue slashing incident.

Yazman police station in-charge Mian Noor Muhammad claimed accused Qari Bashir Ahmad was arrested on the night between Saturday and Sunday from Bahawalpur on an information.

However, it is learnt that the accused had courted arrest with the involvement of some area political bigwigs. Area people told Dawn that the Qari’s family had considerable vote bank in the area which the politicians could not ignore while victim Abdul Qadoos’ family had no such influence in the locality.

Qadoos, 18, had lodged a case against Qari Bashir, Maulana Azam Farooqui and Maulvi Shamsuddin under section 336 and 506 PPC with the Yazman police on Friday last, alleging the accused had injured his tongue on Sept 2 for an enmity. He claimed he could not speak after the incident. The other accused are still at large.

Meanwhile, the Qari claimed it was a conspiracy against their ‘deobandi’ seminary hatched by the heads of rival ‘brelvi’ school of thought. The SHO said the mystery could be resolved only when the other accused would be arrested. He said the medical report of the victim did not rule out the possibility of a ‘self-afflicted’ injury.