SAHIWAL: Dera Rahim police have booked five youths for forcibly recording an explicit mobile video of their unmarried neighbour woman and later blackmailed her with threats of uploading the footage on social media.

They allegedly extorted Rs500,000 from her on multiple occasions in exchange for deleting it. The incident occurred in village 144/9-L.

The police booked the suspects under PPC sections 292-C, 354, 384 and 506, on a complaint filed by the alleged victim.

The complainant alleged that a year ago, two suspects forcibly entered her house when her parents were not at home. They dragged her into a room at gunpoint and forced her to undress and recorded a mobile video of her.

She alleged that the video was later shared with three other youths from the village and she began receiving threats from different mobile numbers. Soon after, the two main suspects started minting money on the promise that the video would be deleted, but the harassment continued.

Realising that the blackmail would not stop, the woman informed her family who filed a formal complaint.

PROBE: The district and sessions judge has ordered a judicial inquiry into the death of a convict at Central Prison, Sahiwal, and appointed Judicial Magistrate Umer Daraz to investigate the matter.

According to reports, Saddam Hussain (36) was convicted in a drug trafficking case in 2025 and was sentenced to 14 years of rigorous imprisonment.

On Thursday night, he reportedly fell unconscious in his barrack. After receiving initial treatment at the prison dispensary, he was shifted to the Sahiwal Teaching Hospital, where he was later pronounced dead.

Prison Superintendent Naveed Ashraf claimed that Saddam died of cardiac arrest. Although his body was handed over to his family after an autopsy, the judge has ordered an inquiry into the incident.

Published in Dawn, March 1st, 2025