TAXILA: An under-trial prisoner was found dead under mysterious circumstances in the lavatory of the Attock District Jail on Eid day. Prison officials claimed that the prisoner had committed suicide by hanging himself with a drawstring.

The inmate, identified as 37-year-old Rashid Khan — a native of Bhallar Joggi village — was found by his fellow prisoners hanging from the window of the jail washroom.

They immediately informed the jail authorities about his death.

According to jail officials, Rashid was arrested by Hassanabdal police after registration of a first investigation report under section 354 of the Pakistan Penal Code on January 1, this year.

His case was under hearing at a local court in Hassanabdal. However, on Eid day, his body was found by his fellow prisoners hanging from the window of the jail washroom.

Jail authorities said the body was dispatched to the district headquarters hospital Attock for an autopsy. Afterwards, a judicial inquiry was carried out by civil Judge Syed Naseer Abbas in the jail in which statements of fellow inmates and jail officials were recorded.

On the other hand, a teenage boy was killed, while a man was shot and injured in two separate accidents in various parts of Attock district on Wednesday.

In the first accident, a 16-year-old boy identified as Ashsar Mansoor, a native of Chabb village, drowned in a water channel located on Makhad Road in Jand while taking a bath.

A police spokesman said that a Rescue 1122 team retrieved his body and handed it over for burial.

Separately, a man was shot and injured over a petty dispute in the Babarki village in the limits of the Hassanabdal police station.

A complainant named Shahwaiz Ali Khan reported to the police that he was on his way when Hassan Khan allegedly opened fire at him with his Kalashnikov (AK-47). Resultantly, he received a bullet to his right leg while the assailant fled away with his gun. He was taken to a government-run hospital. Respective police registered two separate cases and launched further investigation.

Published in Dawn, April 3rd, 2025