Former PPP MPA implicated in hit-and-run case

The accused had an altercation with the victims a few days before the alleged accident

HYDERABAD: A former MPA of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), advocate Poonjo Mal Bheel, driving in a government vehicle allegedly struck three motorcycles in Umerkot district, killing a young man and injuring five others. The incident happened on Kunri road on Friday night.

The vehicle bearing registration number GSC-849, which reportedly belongs to Sindh Assembly, hit the motorcylces and fled. A young man, Rajnesh Kumar, who was returning from his birthday party with his friends died on the spot.

The injured were referred from the Umerkot government hospital to Hyderabad. Injured Mahesh Malhi claimed that Bheel was driving the vehicle and that the vehicle was coming from the wrong side. He said they tried to stop the vehicle but it sped away.

Lal Malhi, MNA of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) who belongs to Umerkot, claimed that two days prior to the accident Bheel engaged in a heated exchange of words with the same young men whose motorcycles were hit by his vehicle. He alleged that the incident was not an accident rather Bheel deliberately tried to run his vehicle over those men.

Bheel on his part claimed while talking to the media that he was not present in the vehicle which was being driven by his driver. The local police also described the incident as an accident. Meanwhile, deceased Kumar's cousin, Mahesh Kumar, lodged an FIR at the city police station nominating Bheel as the accused. The people of Malhi community also staged a sit-in protest on Saturday at Allah Wala chowk and burnt tyres, blocking the movement of traffic towards Karachi and Hyderabad. They alleged that the police are deliberately not arresting Bheel even though he has been nominated in the FIR.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 8^th, 2019.