GUJRAT: Villagers allegedly tortured a suspected cattle thief to death and handed over his accomplice to police along with a loader here on Wednesday at Lakk village in Phalia police precincts.

Reports said the rural areas of Phalia had been facing the issue of cattle theft for the last few months due to which the people were particular about the safety of their cattle.

On Tuesday night, three unidentified thieves came to the outhouse of Nazeer Ahmed of Lokri Mohllaha and started loading cattle on a vehicle but the locals reached the spot and overpowered two of the suspects whereas the third managed his escape.

The villagers started beating the suspects and took them to the outhouse of former union council nazim Ijaz Lakk. One of the suspects — Shah Zaib of Hafizabad district — succumbed to the torture. Another suspect Sher Ali, also from Hafizabad district, was later handed over to police.

Police have recovered the loader from the crime scene and shifted the injured and the deceased to Phalia THQ hospital where doctors conducted the autopsy.

A spokesman for Mandi Bahauddin police said a case had been lodged on the report of brother of the injured suspect Sher Ali against those allegedly involved in killing the suspected cattle thief.

Published in Dawn, February 3rd, 2022