Police nominate 88 suspects in Priyantha lynching case

Challan submitted to prosecution; videos of horrific incident also included in it

SIALKOT:

Police on Saturday submitted a challan to the prosecution -- nominating over 88 people for the gruesome lynching of Priyantha Kumara, a Sri Lankan national who worked as a manager in a factory in Sialkot, in December last year on the allegation that he had committed blasphemy.

The videos of the horrific incident have also been included in the challan.

A colleague of Priyantha, Malik Adnan, who was seen confronting a group of angry men to shield the Sri Lankan man from the angry mob, has been named as a witness in the case.

The prosecution team will review the challan and the trial is expected to start from next week by a special anti-terrorism court at Lahore’s Kot Lakhpat Jail where the suspects have been transferred from Sialkot.

On December 3 last year, workers of private factories had brutally lynched the Sri Lankan national on Sialkot’s Wazirabad Road and later set his body on fire, leaving the nation shell-shocked and disgusted.

An autopsy report had confirmed a fractured skull and brain protrusion of the victim. Around 99% of the body of the slain Sri Lankan manager was completely burnt. Priyantha had died of brain damage. All the bones, including the victim's arms and hip, were broken with the exception of one foot.

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A police official had told The Express Tribune at the crime scene that Priyantha was the operational manager at the factory for the past seven years. He was accused by the factory workers of “tearing down Durood Sharif”.

Rumours then started circulating across the factory area and a mob started gathering in the morning, he said, adding that police were informed about it much later, at around 12:15 pm.

Several gruesome video clips shared on social media showed a mob beating the victim while chanting slogans against blasphemy. Other clips showed his body set ablaze, as well as the overturned wreckage of what was said to be his car.

Many in the mob made no attempt to hide their identity and some took selfies in front of the burning corpse.

Prime Minister Imran Khan had tweeted that the "horrific, vigilante attack" on the factory and the burning alive of the Sri Lankan man was “a day of shame for Pakistan".

Responding to premier’s tweet on the issue, President Dr Arif Alvi had also said the Sialkot incident was “definitely very sad and shameful and not religious in any way whatsoever”. “Islam is a religion established on the cannons of deliberative justice rather than mob lynching.”