GUJRANWALA, Dec 16: Villagers attacked a Naushara Virkan police party and got freed three suspects from custody on Friday.

The police raided Kotli Mansu village and arrested Ghulam Dastagir, Ghulam Abbas and Zulfikar Ahmad in a quarrel case. When the suspects were being taken to the police station, villagers attacked the police team with clubs and sticks and got freed the three men. The attackers also intimidated the police personnel.

The police later registered a case against 12 people and started conducting raids to arrest them.

RAID: A joint health department and police team raided on Friday a house in Gulshan Colony in Cantonment area and unearthed a factory involved in manufacturing fake veterinary medicines.

The team also arrested its owner from the scene.

The health department director received information that fake veterinary medicines were being manufactured at the factory and were being sold to medical stores in and around the city, and many animals had expired after consuming these medicines.

The director formed a raiding party led by Dr Ikram Rana, who raided the house along with Cantonment police and seized fake medicines ostensibly worth Rs250 million. The police arrested factory owner identified as Imran, who admitted to his guilt during interrogation.

Acting on Imran’s disclosure, the team raided some medical stores and seized cache of fake medicines. The Cantonment police registered a case against Imran on the report of Dr Rana.

CONVICTION: District and Sessions Judge Muhammad Rasheed Qamar on Friday handed down death sentence to a murder suspect and fined him Rs500,000. The judge acquitted Shahid Mehmood’s co-accused Sanaullah by giving him benefit of doubt.

According to the prosecution, Shahid had shot dead Faisal Nazir over a petty dispute in Nawan Pind village of Ferozewala on Nov 6, 2010.

Meanwhile, the district and sessions judge visited the District Jail on Friday and ordered releasing 45 prisoners involved in petty cases. He also visited barracks of inmates, including women and juveniles, and gave them a hearing.

He directed the officials concerned to provide facilities to prisoners according to the jail manual. He inspected the kitchen and hospital and examined meal and medicines being provided to the prisoners. Jail superintendent Malik Ziaud Din accompanied the sessions judge.

WAPDA: Pakistan Wapda Hydro-Electric Central Labour Union central general-secretary Khurshed Ahmad Khan and Gujranwala Electric Power Company (Gepco) Engineers Association central secretary-general Tanvir Husain Nagra have accused the government of planning selling off distribution companies (Discos) in a bid to privatise the authority’s institutions at the behest of International Monetary Fund.

Speaking at a news conference at the Gepco headquarters here on Friday, they said installation of rental power plants was a political stunt.

They said PIA, Pakistan Railways and Steel Mills were already under crises but the government was hell-bent on destroying Wapda too.

They said workers would stage a long march towards Islamabad and besiege the Parliament on Dec 31 if the decision to privatise Discos was not reversed. The union regional chairman Iqbal Dar and secretary Waliur Rehman were also present.