TOBA TEK SINGH: A prayer leader of a mosque who had been accused of forcibly raping an eight-year-old orphan girl in Faisalabad’s Tandlianwala area, Chak 610-GB, ‘died’ in police custody on Thursday night.

According to a police official, the suspect had initially fled to his hometown of Sargodha but was subsequently arrested by the Tandlianwala Saddar police.

While being transported in a police van, he suddenly experienced swelling on his face and began vomiting. He was rushed to the Chiniot DHQ Hospital, where doctors pronounced him dead.

The cause of his death is yet to be determined and will be ascertained after receiving the postmortem report. Sources have revealed that the suspect had consumed poison prior to his arrest by the police.

In a first information report registered under Section 376 of the Pakistan Penal Code, a widow stated that her daughter had gone to the mosque to learn the Quran when the teacher lured her to his adjacent house and forcibly raped her. The girl is currently receiving medical treatment at the Tandlianwala THQ hospital.

ACCIDENTS: Two cousins died when their motorcycle was hit by a truck on Thursday night near Jaswana stop on Jarranwala-Satiana Road.

Rescue 1122 said Sher Muhammad and Abdul Razzaq, both grandsons of the deceased Sher Muhammad from Chak 280-GB Manj, were carrying chicken meat to cook for mourners after their grandfather’s passing. The accident resulted in their serious injuries and immediate death.

Villagers staged a protest by placing the bodies on the road and blocking traffic. The truck driver was caught by the crowd and handed over to Jarranwala Saddar police, leading to the end of the protest.

In another incident, a motorcyclist died and his pillion was critically wounded when a bus hit their motorcycle here on Rajana-Chichawatni Road.

Rescue 1122 said Ehtisham Sarfraz and his cousin Shahbaz, both of Chak 184-GB, Gadhianwali, were on way to Kamalia from Rajana when near Lundo Canal bridge, a bus collided with their bike leaving them injured.

They were rushed to the Kamalia THQ Hospital where Ehtisham succumbed to his injuries while Shahbaz was referred by doctors to the DHQ Hospital.

Also, in Gojra, four motorcycle rickshaw passengers were critically injured after a coaster van hit it on Toba-Gojra Road near Gojra Bypass on Friday.

They were rushed to the Gojra THQ hospital. They were identified as Mehvish Abbas, Shamim Jamil, Sumaira Tayyab and rickshaw driver Aslam.

CAUGHT: A suspect who kidnapped a 12-year-old girl offering her ration, was caught by locals and was handed over to the Gojra City police on Friday.

The complainant from Aziz Colony told police that his daughter was returning from her uncle’s house when the suspect from Chak 97 JB lured her into free ration and when he was taking her away, she jumped from his motorcycle and the passerby overpowered him and handed him over to the police.

AC: The Gojra City police registered on Friday a case against 10 people who allegedly broke the gate of the assistant commissioner’s (AC’s) house, and threatened to kill the AC.

Complainant patwari Khaliq Zaman claimed in FIR that Tariq Shahid broke the main gate after AC Dr Rizwan Ashraf asked him to vacate the MC quarter.

The police are conducting raids to arrest the suspects.

RAPE: The Garhmaharaja police registered case under section 376 of the PPC against five people.

The complainant told police that his wife went four months ago to the house of a suspect for sewing clothes who took her to the house of another suspect with the excuse that his family women were there. He added that the suspects locked her in house and gang-raped her while one suspect made the footage.

He said during four months the suspect repeatedly blackmailed his wife with threat to making the footage viral and he and his four accomplices gang-raped her. Now when she refused to go on their call, they made her footage viral.

The police have arrested the suspects.

Published in Dawn, June 17th, 2023