GUJRAT: The Mandi Bahauddin police have registered a case against eight people on the charge of assassinating former District Bar Association president Mahmood Pervez Ranjha and his driver Danish Shabbir.

The Qadirabad police registered a case under sections 302, 324, 440, 148 and 149 of Pakistan Penal Code on the report of Khalid Bashir, a brother of the deceased lawyer, and started investigation.

The legal fraternity will observe a two-day strike in the six districts of Gujranwala division on April 25 and 26 as well as three-day mourning on the appeal of the Punjab Bar Council.

A renowned legal practitioner, Mahmood Pervez Ranjha, along with his driver, was gunned down and three others including his son were injured in an ambush near Hamber Morr in Qadirabad police jurisdiction on Saturday. Ranjha, along with his son Daniyal Pervez (also a lawyer) and their driver, was on his way back home at Laakha Kadhar village from Mandi Bahauddin when unidentified armed men riding a car and two motorbikes ambushed their car and opened an indiscriminate firing at them. The firing resulted in the death of Mahmood Ranjha and his driver whereas Daniyal, a passerby woman and an infant were injured in the firing.

The deceased and injured were shifted to the Phalia Tehsil Headquarters (THQ) hospital from where doctors referred Daniyal to Aziz Bhatti Shaheed Teaching Hospital, Gujrat, due to his critical condition.

The bodies of the deceased were handed over to the families after autopsy and both were laid to rest in their native areas on Sunday.

Police said they had launched an investigation into the case and collected forensic evidence from the crime scene.

Lawyers of Mandi Bahauddin district as well as Phalia and Malikwal tehsil bar associations have condemned the incident and demanded the arrest of culprits involved in the incident.

Published in Dawn, April 25th, 2022