BAHAWALPUR: Three policemen and a woman, an employee of the Cholistan Development Authority, have been arrested for running a honey-trapping gang and a torture cell at Police Lines, Bahawalpur.

The gang surfaced after a complaint of one Sajid who had fallen victim to its members on March 24/25 but he reported the matter to police recently.

In his first information report (FIR), registered with the Civil Lines Police Station, Sajid alleged that he received a call on March 24 by Constable Zafar Iqbal, who asked him to meet and he took him to a private house behind the Lorry Adda in the city.

In the house, Zafar along with Muddasir and Dilshad, Sidra Noor, stripped him off and forced him at gunpoint to rape Sidra. Sajid shot the videos. Sajid was allegedly tortured and blackmailed that his videos with the woman would be posted on social media.

After keeping him in illegal confinement for a night, Zafar took Sajid to official residential quarters (Dolphin Force) in the Police Lines, Bahawalpur where Constable Dilshad and another unidentified man subjected him to torture and demanded money forcing Sajid to phone his family for money. They also threatened him with implicating him in a rape case and deprived him of over Rs1.3m.

Umar Saleem, the spokesman for the district police, told Dawn about three separate incidents in which the gang had blackmailed people. He said DPO Asad Sarfaraz took action and a joint team of the CIA and police arrested Constable Zafar Iqbal, the ringleader of the gang, who was working in the Special Protection Unit (SPU).

Two other constables, Dilshad and Muddasir Afzal, are absconding. All three constables have been suspended from service.

Mr Saleem said there were complaints of about three other such incidents against the gang members and the police were investing them.

ACCIDENT: Three cattle traders were killed on the spot while a fourth suffered serious injuries when their mini-truck loaded with sacrificial animals rammed into a parked truck near Dhoorekot at Jalalpur Mor, Uch Sharif.

The deceased were identified as Nadeem(30), Sajid (35) and Zahid Shah (45) while their injured fellow was identified as Abdul Malik (43).

Published in Dawn, June 2nd, 2024