TOBA TEK SINGH: Pirmahal police on Tuesday registered a case against 14 persons, including two station house officers (SHOs), three other policemen, a private TV channel reporter and a woman, for allegedly luring a trader with a “honey trap” and extracting Rs4.5 million from him through blackmail.

The complainant, Usman Munir Sheikh, a businessman of Allama Iqbal Town locality of Pirmahal, said in the FIR registered under sections 384, 506, 148 and 149 of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) and section 155 C of Police Order, that he was first contacted by a woman, Iqra, on August 2, 2023, who said she wanted friendship with him.

He said he started conversing with Iqra on mobile phone and remained in contact with her for around seven days, without seeing her in person.

As per the FIR, the suspects, SHO of Pirmahal police Ibtesamul Haq and SHO of Arrouti police Muhammad Rizwan, a Rajana police official Waqar Hussain, constables Muhammad Yahya and Shahzad Mayo, a proclaimed offender, Nazoo Hiraj, a private TV channel reporter Nayyar Abbas Sherazi, and their six unidentified accomplices, started blackmailing him on the pretext that Iqra has complained to the police that the complainant had attempted to rape her.

He said that the suspects blackmailed him into paying them over Rs4.5 million on different occasions.

A police spokesperson told the media that District Police Officer (DPO) Ebadit Nisar has also suspended all the policemen involved in this case, including the two SHOs, from service.

He said further investigation into the matter was under way, but so far none of the suspects had been arrested.

GIRL BURNT: A minor girl suffered serious burns on Tuesday, when she fell into a dry pond where bushes had been set on fire at Mouza Dargahi Shah Wala near Arrouti Adda, Pirmahal.

As per locals, the girl, Aysha Sardar, was playing when she accidentlly fell into the dry pond where the fire was burning.

As a result, she suffered serious burns and was taken to Pirmahal THQ Hospital.

As the THQ hospital doctors, the girl had suffered 40 per cent burns and was refrred to the Allied Hospital, Faisalabad.

MURDER ‘SOLVED’: Jhang’s Massan police claimed to have solved the case of blind murder of a woman, arresting her two alleged killers, including her brother, who confessed to have murdered her for ‘honour’.

Investigation SP Javed Iqbal said the body of the victim woman, Yasmeen Yusuf, had been recovered from the river Chenab on Sept 18, 2023, after which police started investigations.

The SP said that using modern technology the police traced two suspects, the victim’s brother, Nawaz and her brother-in-law Zafar Iqbal.

He said the suspects told the police during interrogation that they had killed her for having relations with a man and later threw the body into the river.

Published in Dawn, April 10th, 2024