LAHORE, Nov 25: Protesters blocked Wahdat Road for two hours after a driver of the Pindi Bhattian tehsil nazim knocked down a rickshaw driver and injured his cousin on Wahdat Road early on Tuesday.

Naveed Anwar of Johar Town was driving Tehsil Nazim Ansar Abbas’ land cruiser (GAA 512-07), reportedly under the influence of liquor, when he rammed the vehicle into the rickshaw, a police official told Dawn. The vehicle was also bearing a fake green number plate, he said.

Police investigation revealed rickshaw driver Muhammad Anwar, 35, of Mansoora was returning home along with his cousin, Yar Muhammad, at around 3am when a speeding land cruiser hit his rickshaw from the rear near Iqbal Town’s Karim Block. As a result, the rickshaw driver, father of five, died instantly and his cousin suffered injuries.

The land cruiser driver fled, leaving the damaged vehicle at the scene. Injured Yar Muhammad was taken to Jinnah Hospital.

Muslim Town police sent the rickshaw driver’s body to the city morgue and registered a case against the drive under sections 279, 320, 427 and 337-G of the Pakistan Penal Code.

The rickshaw driver’s family, relatives and neighbours gathered at the accident scene at around 8:30am and blocked Wahdat Road in protest. They set tyres on fire, raised slogans against the killer and called for his immediate arrest and compensation for the poor rickshaw driver’s widow and five children.

Muslim Town and Gulshan-i-Iqbal police officials reached the protest scene and tried to disperse the protesters, but failed. The protesters stuck to their demand that the chief minister should visit the rickshaw driver’s family and announce compensation.

Witnesses said traffic remained chocked for two hours and students and working people remained trapped in the traffic mess on Wahdat Road and connecting arteries. The mob dispersed after Iqbal Town SP Sohail Chaudhry assured them that their demands would be conveyed to the authorities and the killer would be arrested.

Later, the SP told Dawn that the land cruiser driver was arrested from tehsil nazim’s outhouse in Pindi Bhattian within 12 hours of the incident. In a related development, it is learnt that the accused party has struck a deal with the rickshaw driver’s family with the help of area notables and legislators. Under the deal, the accused land cruiser driver would pay Rs500,000 to the rickshaw deriver’s family. Separately, two police constables were killed when a truck (CRD-443) hit their motorcycle on Manga Mandi bypass on Tuesday.