BAHAWALNAGAR: Police have booked four men for allegedly chopping off the left hand of a man with a shovel after severely torturing and humiliating him over irrigating fields in Dahranwala on Monday.

According to the first information report (FIR), Ghulam Muhayuddin of Chak 174, Muraad, Dahranawala, along with Azim, Ali and Naeem attacked their cousin Ahmad on Monday afternoon and chopped off his left hand with a shovel over irrigating his land with canal water.

It said that the attackers also slapped and humiliated Ahmed, who fainted because of torture. He was rushed to the Chishtian Tehsil Headquarters Hospital where he was being treated.

A police spokesperson said the district police officer had constituted a team to arrest the suspects.

PROTEST: Scores of shopkeepers took to street and held a demonstration on Chishtian Road, Bahawalnagar, in protest against police for failing to check rising robberies.

In the latest incident, three armed bikers looted 0.5 million cash from an iron store and fled the scene while resorting to aerial firing on Sunday night.

The protesters blocked the road by burning tyres and raised slogans against the police for their failure to check the alarming increase in crime.

The traders said three armed men entered the iron store of Hameed Mughal on Chishtian Road on Sunday night and held the staff hostages at gunpoint.

They said the robbers took cash from the store and managed their escape by resorting to aerial firing which created panic among the citizens.

The owner said his store had been robbed for the second time within a few months, adding that the dacoits, in the first hit, had looted Rs0.3 million. However, the police neither traced the culprits nor recovered the booty, he lamented.

The traders said there had been an alarming increase in robberies, thefts and street crime in the city, especially in the limits of the B-Division police station.

They warned of shutter down strike if the police continued to ignore such incidents.

Later, police and Elite Force personnel got cleared the road by assuring protesters of action against criminals.

B-Division SHO Sajjad Ahmad was not available for his comment, while district police spokesperson said the DPO was looking into the issue.

Published in Dawn, December 21st, 2021