LOWER DIR: Lower Dir District and Sessions Judge Ajmal Khan Wazir has sentenced a man, posing as pir (faith healer), to 30 years imprisonment and imposed Rs1.2 million fine on him for assaulting an 18-year-old girl. The verdict was announced here the other day.

Talking to Dawn here on Saturday, district police officer Saleem Abbas Kulachi said that the accused reached his logical end due to the professionalism and hard work of the Khall police.

He said that the affected girl had lodged a complaint with the Khall police on May 25, 2023, against Mohammad Nisar, a resident of Umarali village of Wari, Upper Dir, accusing him of assaulting her. The police claimed that the girl told them that the faith healer also took money from her to make her lover, who worked abroad, to meet her.

Mr Kulachi said that the investigation of the case under the supervision of police officer Hayat Mohammad showed that the accused had taken the girl to an empty house in Peshawar, where he assaulted her.

Khall police station SHO Bahadar Zeb said the accused got money from the victim girl thrice and when he failed to do the job, he asked her to accompany him to Peshawar for doing the job through black magic.

He said the accused continued to rape the girl for two consecutive days in her sister’s empty house.

Later, he said the fake faith healer threatened the girl with uploading her explicit videos on social media to blackmail her. However, he said the girl managed to approach the local police.

Later, he said the police arrested the accused and investigated the case.

Meanwhile, the Munda police arrested a cattle thief, Ishtiaq, a resident of Baron area of Balambat, and recovered four stolen goats from his possession.

An official said the accused was taking the goats to the Bajaur district when he was arrested.

Separately, the Munda police arrested a man, Mohammad, a resident of Damadola area of Bajaur, and recovered over five kilogrammes of charas from his possession.

The Chakdara police also arrested a drug seller, identified as Abdur Rashid, a resident of Chitral, and recovered over two kg charas and 180 grams of ice drug from his possession at Pul Chowky here on Saturday.

The Mayar police arrested a proclaimed offender, Zahir, a resident of the Salarzai area of Bajaur. He had killed a resident, Hamzullah, 32, in Mayar Bazaar in 2010.

Published in Dawn, September 29th, 2024