‘Faith healers’ held for sexual exploitation

Man, two sons also suspected of fleecing women

VEHARI:

Jhal Sial police have arrested a man and his two sons suspected of sexually exploiting and defrauding women under the garb of faith healing.

Police officials said the suspects had recorded compromising videos of the victims in addition to fleecing them.

A woman from a village had complained to the police that she had contacted the suspects because she was childless three years after marriage. Her husband worked in Islamabad.

She stated that had sought the help of Tanveer Shah and his sons, Amir and Tahir, from Chak 13 after hearing that they could help her conceive with the help of faith healing.

She had met the suspects five months ago and they had instructed her to visit them every Sunday for three months.

During the sessions, they enquired about her family and home.

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The woman, who lived alone, unwittingly divulged information that was later exploited by the suspects.

The suspects began visiting her home and Tanveer claimed that she was under a spell and would have to pour water on gold jewellery and then into a river. She was informed that 10 tola of gold was required for the process and they would keep the jewelllery for three weeks.

The complainant handed over eight tola of gold to them.

However, the ordeal of the victim did not end there, as the prime suspect later sedated and sexually assaulted her. She stated that she did not remember about the incident but its video had been recorded by the suspects.

The suspects then demanded Rs2 million from the complainant who paid them Rs1 million after selling household items and sought time for arranging the remaining amount.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 20^th, 2023.