Two students found dead with torture marks

Both bodies recovered from same neighbourhood

LODHRAN:

The tortured bodies of two students, who were kidnapped two days ago, were found in a local canal on Thursday. The bodies were shifted to the district hospital for a post-mortem, before being handed over to the heirs.

City Lodhran police station registered a case regarding the abduction of a student two days ago, upon the complaint of Taslim Ahmed. The investigation was still ongoing when two bodies were found in the local canal by Rescue 1122.

According to the details, Taslim Ahmed, a resident of Khawaja Chowk, filed a complaint stating that his son, second-year student Abdullah Taslim, did not return home after he left for his studies. Taslim alleged that two unknown persons kidnapped his son Abdullah and forced him into an unknown vehicle. City Lodhran Police Station registered case 911/22 and started searching for Abdullah.

The search for Abdullah was ongoing when another matriculation student was reported missing from the same neighborhood and street. The other boy, Umar Munawar was a matriculation student and his body was found from the same canal as Abdullah Taslim. The victims’ parents, as well as the people of the locality, grew worried after the bodies of two students from the same neighborhood were found together in the same spot.

According to City Police Station, the scope of the investigation will be extended after the post-mortem report is received. Locals stated that both students were well-behaved and innocent, unlikely to become involved in anything malicious. Reportedly, they were not involved in any criminal activities, but finding the bodies of the two students in this way was a cause for concern. The police will continue the investigation at a high level.

This is not the first time bodies or human remains were dumped in canals. In Okara in July 2021, a couple’s dismembered remains were discovered in Malka Hans Canal.

According to Haveli Lakha Police Station SHO Sanaullah, the father of one of the victims, Ayesha Bibi, lodged an FIR of her and his son-in-law's abduction a day earlier.

A police official told The Express Tribune that a search for the couple was underway, when reports came in that the bodies of a man and woman were found in Malka Hans Canal.

During the investigation, police found that the deceased man had a dispute over possession of a house. Police carried out raids for the suspect, targeting people the complainant had nominated in the case. Police arrested one suspect at the time of writing and a thorough investigation was underway.

Meanwhile in January of this year, a body was found in Ludheki Canal in Lahore. A police team reached the spot upon receiving reports, retrieving the body, which had been dumped in a sack. The body was several days old and had begun to decompose, however marks of torture could be observed.

This came after Lahore police found a woman’s body in the canals in November 2021. She had been abducted a month before her discovery, with examinations showing that she had been raped before her death.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 9^th, 2022.