BAHAWALPUR: The doctors at Nishtar Hospital, Multan, extracted the USB allegedly containing objectionable pictures of girls, from the abdomen of the prime suspect in the Vehari blackmail scandal, through endoscopy.

According to police sources, Vehari police on the complaint of a girl, who was trapped by the suspect, Hamid Wahaj, and his accomplices, through a job advertisement and was later raped and blackmailed by them, had arrested him in a raid.

The sources said that during interrogation it transpired that Hamid had been operating a blackmailing ring involved in sexual exploitation of job-seeking girls.

They said that during the raid the suspect swallowed a USB allegedly containing objectionable pictures of the victims.

Later, a police party drove him to Nishtar Hospital, Multan, where doctors conducted ultrasound of the suspect, which confirmed the presence of USB in his abdomen.

At this, the doctors conducted his endoscopy and extracted the USB from his abdomen.

The source said that the police after downloading the data in the USB, would include it in the case record as evidence and also arrest other members of the ring.

LICENCES SUSPENDED: Punjab Bar Council Vice-Chairman Kamran Bashir Mughul has suspended the practice licences of three lawyers of Bahawalpur District Bar Association for violating a strike call given by the PbBC.

According to a press release issued on Wednesday, the action was taken against the three lawyers -- Rao Zafar Naaz, Abdul Samad Langah and Shahid Sajjad Siddiqui -- by the PbBC, on a complaint filed by the district bar secretary general Malik Muhammad Safdar.

CONGO NEGATIVE: The National Institute of Health (NIH), Islamabad, declared the blood samples of a patient admitted to the Bahawal Victoria Hospital (BVH) negative for Congo virus.

According to the BVH doctors, the patient, Younus (40), an animal trader, was admitted to the BVH with dengue fever. However, doctors suspected that he might have Congo fever and sent his blood samples to the NIH lab in Islamabad.

The NIH lab test results declared the samples negative for Congo virus. The patient is recovering from dengue fever at the BVH dengue ward, the doctors say.

Published in Dawn, May 16th, 2024