SAHIWAL: A youth was burnt alive over a small property dispute at Mohalla Inamabad near the DHQ Hospital Pakpattan. City Police on Sunday arrested three nominated suspects for setting the young man ablaze.

The first information report (FIR) states that five men, namely Iqbal, his younger brother Jamal, their cousin Saqib and two unknown individuals, doused Muhammad Abbas, 21, with petrol, set him on fire and pushed him off the rooftop of the shop.

Rescue 1122 transported the critically burned and injured Abbas to the DHQ Hospital. Abbas had sustained burns on 80pc of his body and was referred to Lahore but he succumbed to his burns when the ambulance was still within the city limits.

A case has been registered against Iqbal, Jamal, Saqib and two unidentified individuals on the complaint of Abbas’s mother Shamim Akhter.

According to the report, Shamim’s late husband, Muhammad Ikram, had rented out their two-marla shop adjacent to their house to Ihsan Ali, a resident of Faridpur Dogarian. The shop was turned into the Dogar Medical Store by Ihsan’s family. Ihsan somehow managed to obtain the ownership papers from Muhammad Ikram and transferred the property into his name in 2002 through fake documents. Ikram was illiterate and he did not know what happened to the ownership of his shop. The matter came to light after his death. Now the shop was in possession of Ihsan’s two sons.

Both the families got involved in a legal battle, which reached the Supreme Court though the higher judiciary had not issued a decision yet.

On July 13, Iqbal and Jamal allegedly secured an ‘eviction order’ from a court by claiming that the shop was transferred in their name.

Iqbal informed Abbas that they would deprive him and his mother of their house behind the medical store too.

On Saturday, a heated argument erupted between Abbas and Jamal. Later, Iqbal, Jamal, Saqib and two unidentified individuals arrived at the rooftop of the shop where a scuffle started and Abbas was burned by the suspects.

District police sources said that the police were investigating the case from all angles including the possibility of suicide. They are also recovering CCTV footage from a nearby medical store. However, the FIR mentions eyewitnesses, Abdul Sattar and Muhammad Waseem, who had seen the suspects committing the crime.

District Police Office Tariq Walayat told Dawn said the facts of the murder would be ascertained after the post-mortem and CCTV footage taken from nearby shops.

Abbas’ body was handed over to family late night after a post-mortem. Abbas’s family also protested against the police over a delayed handover of the body by police.

Published in Dawn, July 22nd, 2024