BAHAWALNAGAR: Family of a youth, who died after allegedly being shot and injured by his rivals a week ago, have claimed the Fort Abbas police of protecting the attackers by trying to portray the incident as an accident.

In a post of social media, the family claimed that Sanaullah (25), a resident of Basti Chattian Wali, who sold milk on a motorbike, was on his way to Chak 285/HR main road with on the eve of April 18 when his opponents Ziaul Haq and Muhammad Islam of Chak 283/HR allegedly shot him with pistols.

They said Sanaullah lost control of his motorbike owing to the gunshot injuries, forcing the speedy bike to collide with a tree and he injured his head.

They stated that Sanaullah was transferred from the Fort Abbas THQ to the Bahawal Victoria Hospital, Bahawalpur in a critical condition, while the police rejected their application against the influential accused, claiming that no one attacked Sana-ullah and that he was the victim of an accident.

Police say murder section added to the FIR and investigations ongoing

The family claimed that on April 24, Sanaullah regained consciousness and told doctors in the hospital that the aforementioned men had shot and injured him during a conflict, and that the next day he succumbed to his injuries.

They claimed that on April 25, after the complaint of Sanaullah’s brother Muhammad Abid, the police filed a case against the duo under Section 324 rather than Section 302, informing the family that Section 302 would be added later.

According to the family, the police were now harassing them because the situation became public on social media, and they were attempting to obtain a video statement from them claiming that they had not made any complaints with the police prior to April 25.

When contacted, a police spokesperson stated that the wounded youth’s family had told the Rescue 1122 and local police that Sanaullah met with an accident due to overspeeding on the day of the accident.

However, on April 22, Sanaullah’s brother, in a separate application, held two of his opponents responsible for the incident and termed it a planned attempted murder rather than an accident.

He said that the police had recently registered an FIR in accordance with the application, during which the wounded individual died, and that they had now included Section 302 in their report.

Further investigations into the matter were ongoing, the spokesperson added.

Published in Dawn, April 27th, 2026