HARIPUR: Two brothers were killed after falling in a well in village council Panian, police and hospital sources said here on Friday.

Police quoted family sources as saying that Mohammad Yasin of village Kamal Pur accidentally slipped into the dug well of their home. In an effort to rescue the teenage boy, his elder brother Mohammad Afaq also went down into the well but both fell unconscious due to poisonous gas.

When both failed to come out, the villagers climbed down into the well and took the two brothers out and shifted them to Haripur Trauma Centre. However, the doctors pronounced them dead.

ACE: The Anti-Corruption Establishment arrested a former patwari and his two accomplices for preparing fake claim voucher of land that was acquired for economic zone at Hattar Industrial Estate, official sources said here on Friday.

They said that an inquiry was conducted on a case referred to the anti-graft body by the office of deputy commissioner. During the inquiry, ACE found that Khalid Mehmood during his posting as acquisition patwari at the deputy commissioner office had made a fake claim of Rs8.57 million, showing that the land was acquired for economic zone at Hattar Industrial Estate.

They said investigation showed that the patwari had affixed fake signs of the deputy commissioner while preparing award documents. However, before making payment to the claimant, who was also fake, the matter was detected by deputy commissioner and he referred the case to ACE for probe and legal action.

The ACE after completion of inquiry arrested Khalid Mehmood, who was dismissed from service a few months ago, and his two accomplices Nazakat and Kamran. The ACE obtained one-day physical remand of the arrested persons.

DROWNS: A picnicker drowned in the Khanpur Dam reservoir, police and eyewitnesses said here on Friday.

Police quoted eyewitnesses as saying that three friends -- Rehan Fida, Akif Aqib and Haider -- from Peshawar had come to Khanpur Dam for picnic. After enjoying boat ride, they stayed for a while on the side of Khanpur reservoir near village Sarhadna where they started taking pictures.

While taking, Rehan Fida slipped into deep water and drowned. The local police and divers fished the body out after half an hour and shifted it to tehsil headquarters hospital Khanpur.

Published in Dawn, July 20th, 2019