HARIPUR, Feb 21: The police here on Thursday arraigned the former provincial transport minister and MPA-elect Akhtar Nawaz Khan and his family members in the murder case of Haripur tehsil nazim’s uncle.

However, the accused could not be arrested as they had reportedly gone underground.

The Khalabat township police quoted Zulfiqar Ahmed Khan advocate, the younger brother of tehsil nazim Iftikhar Ahmed Khan as saying that on Wednesday evening, he along with other relatives and supporters was standing outside his hujra when his rival candidate and former provincial minister Akhtar Nawaz, accompanied by his father, son, nephew and three brothers came and sprayed bullets on them with Kalashnikovs injuring eight of them seriously.

The wounded were removed to DHQ hospital, Haripur, where his uncle Haji Anwar Khan succumbed to injuries, Mr Zulfiqar said.

The enraged relatives of the tehsil nzim, in retaliation, resorted to aerial firing and damaged two vehicles of the supporters of Akhtar Nawaz.

The police have registered a criminal case against Akhtar Nawaz and his brothers under sections 302, 324, 348 and 149 of the PPC and have launched a hunt to nab the accused.

It is important to mention that both the parties are close relatives and their differences surfaced during the local government elections of 2005. Zulfiqar Ahmed Khan contested the Monday’s election from PF-51, Haripur III, on PML-N’s ticket and lost to Akhtar Nawaz Khan, an independent candidate. The supporters of the winning candidate, according to the victim party, had been constantly taunting them resorting to aerial firing and exploding firecrackers in front of Zulfiqar’s home which led to Wednesday’s incident.