SAHIWAL: A man impersonating an army officer was arrested on Thursday by Civil Lines police for submitting a forged police character certificate.

The police identified the suspect as Abdul Salam. He was booked under case No. 201/26 in sections 420, 468, and 471 of the Pakistan Penal Code, on the complaint of Zeeshan Iqbal, a resident of Sahiwal City.

According to the report, Zeeshan, who runs a mobile shop at Azan Heights, came into contact with Abdus Salam, who introduced himself as Altaf Kaloo, claiming to be a serving army officer.

Salam began trading mobile phones with Zeeshan on a regular basis and would, sometimes, defer payments. Eventually, a sum of Rs545,000 remained outstanding against Salam.

When Zeeshan pressed for payment of the amount, Salam gave him a cheque of a private commercial bank, which was dishonoured upon presentation.

On Feb 13, 2026, Zeeshan discovered that the suspect was not employed in any branch of the armed forces. He then lodged a complaint with Fateh Sher police, which registered case No 147/26, against the suspect under sections 419 and 420 of the PPC.

During investigation, Salam produced a fake police character certificate, in a bid to prove that he is an army major.

The police later sent the document for verification to the Punjab Inspector General’s Office, which turned out to be bogus. The Civil Lines police registered another case against the suspect and arrested him.

COPS BOOKED: Three officials of Ghala Mandi police station were booked for their alleged negligence after a suspect in a kidnapping case escaped from their custody on the district courts premises in Sahiwal on Wednesday.

According to police sources,Abdul Khaliq, a resident of Bohar Gate, Multan, was brought by a team of Ghala Mandi police to a court in Sahiwal for the hearing of a kidnapping case (FIR No 126/26) registered under Section 365 of the PPC on the complaint of Shamshadul Haq on July 12.

Khaliq was allegedly involved in the kidnapping of an expat boy, Danish Shamshad, on July 12. He later released the boy after receiving Rs2,00,000 as ransom on July 14.

He was arrested by Ghala Mandi police and presented in the court on July 21. He was granted a 14-day judicial remand by the court.

Sources say that the police, instead of sending the suspect to jail, took him to Ghala Mandi police station and kept him in the lock-up in violation of the Police Order 2022.

On July 22, the police again took the suspect to the district courts, without any reason, from where he allegedly escaped.

As per the FIR, at the time of his escape, Khaliq was in the custody of ASI Farooq Khalid, Head Constable Sajid Ali and Constable Mushtaq Ahmed.

Immediately after his escape, Inspector Muhammad Bilal of Civil Lines Police was called to the scene.

Later, on the orders of the district police officer, a case was registered against the three policemen under sections 155C, 223, and 224 of the PPC at Ghala Mandi police station on the complaint of Inspector Saimur Rehman.

Published in Dawn, July 24th, 2026