Prayer leader found dead in mosque

City police chief says investigation launched, will arrest suspect soon

LAHORE:

The prayer leader of a mosque in Multani Colony was slaughtered to death by unknown assailants.

The police on Thursday identified the deceased as Asif, son of Mureed Hussain. His body was found from the quarters adjacent to the mosque.

According to preliminary investigation, the victim was living with his wife and daughter in a quarter located on the upper storey of Shalimar Mosque.

Unidentified suspects came to see him and had tea with him. Afterwards, they locked his wife and daughter in another room and slit the throat of the victim.

Nearby people rushed to the location after hearing hue and cry of the victim’s family and found the prayer leader in a pool of blood. They informed the police who moved the body to the morgue for an autopsy.

The family of the victim told police that they had no enmity with any person.

Chief Minister Punjab Usman Buzdar has taken notice of the incident and asked the authorities to submit a report at the earliest.

Speaking to The Express Tribune, Lahore police chief Ghulam Mehmood Dogar said that a first information report (FIR) has been registered against unidentified suspects. “Police are conducting a detailed investigation of the case to apprehend the suspects involved in the gruesome murder of the prayer leader,” he added.

A few months back, a mosque leader was murdered for honour in the provincial capital. A Dubai-returned old acquaintance had stabbed him to death in his quarters.

In another case of slaughter of victims in early January, police claimed to have arrested two suspects involved in the kidnapping and slaughtering two sisters in Kahna area. The victims had been found with slit throats and tied limbs. Both bodies were recovered separately from a drain in Kahna on December 14 and January 4.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 29^th, 2021.