LAHORE: A judicial magistrate on Wednesday extended the physical remand of five suspects in the case involving the death of a mother and her minor daughter who fell into an open manhole near Bhati Gate.

On completion of the previous four-day physical remand, police produced all five suspects before the court and sought a further 10-day remand.

Magistrate Shafqat Abbas asked the investigating officer (IO) what progress had been made during the four days of remand.

The IO told the court that the suspects had not disclosed anything so far during the investigation.

Advocate Ahmad Chicher, the defence counsel, argued that the site work had been completed and handed over to Wasa.

He said his clients were the representatives of the contractor company and they had nothing to do with the construction site after the completion of the project. He said not a single official of any government department had been arrested by the police so far.

During the hearing, one of the suspects, Salman Yasin, the owner of the contract company, broke down in tears and stated that he was not allowed to sleep in the lockup, as different investigators kept coming the whole night. He complained that the place where he was being kept did not allow him to sit or stand properly.

The defence counsel said suspect Usman Yasin voluntarily surrendered to the police at the office of the SP concerned. He said the contractor presented a cheque for Rs10 million to the police for the aggrieved family.

He asked the court to discharge Salman in the case and send others to jail on judicial remand.

However, the magistrate extended the physical remand of the suspects for five days and ordered the IO to submit a report showing progress in the investigation on Feb 9.

Sajid Hussain, the father of the deceased woman, and her husband Murtaza also appeared before the magistrate in compliance with an order.

During an informal interaction with journalists, Sajid said no compensation amount or cheque had been received so far.

To a question whether the family was considering a compromise, he said they were still in shock and this was the first time the court summoned him.

Victims Sadia (24) and her 10-month-old daughter Rida Fatima had come to Lahore from Jhang district with their family.

After visiting Data Darbar, the family was about to sit in a rickshaw, when Sadia and Rida slipped into an open manhole near an under-construction site of Bhati Gate expansion project.

Published in Dawn, February 5th, 2026