RAWALPINDI, Nov 17: A teenage housemaid, believed to have been tortured and detained in an apartment of a former deputy secretary for the last four days, was recovered on Wednesday night, police said.

Inspector Secretariat police station Jameel Hashmi said a raid was carried out on an apartment in Gulshan-i-Jinnah after the emergency police received a telephone call about a girl who was locked up in an apartment and seemed to be in trouble.

A police party, accompanied by assistant commissioner Sajid Chohan, raided the apartment of Shahbaz Akhtar Joseph, presently serving as OSD, and recovered the girl identified as Shabana.

The girl had been locked up inside the apartment since Saturday after the former deputy secretary and his wife left for Lahore to celebrate Eid. Quoting the girl, the police said a few days ago she was tortured after some jewellery went missing from the house. But, nothing was recovered from her.

"She was terrified when recovered and there were bruises on her face," the police officer said. He said Shabana had been working here for the last one year after her parents, who belong to Toba Tek Singh, handed her over to Mr Joseph in return for an advance salary.

In her statement, the girl said she had been asked by her employer to stay inside the house till they returned from Lahore. The girl was handed over to the women police and her parents had been informed.

The police have registered a case of illegal confinement against the former deputy secretary. Meanwhile, two persons were murdered in separate incidents, police said on Wednesday. A person, identified as Sabz Ali Khan, was found dead in a rented room in Ganjmandi, while a 21-year-old man was shot dead by unidentified persons on Seham Road in Westridge.

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