36 booked for ransacking Rana Sanaullah’s office

As many as 36 people were booked for allegedly storming the office of former federal interior minister Rana Sanaullah on Wednesday. The mob threatened to kill the caretaker and vandalised the office to stop them from playing the deck.

Irfan Asif, who worked as a caretaker of Rana Sanaullah’s political office, reported to police that he was present at the office along with Muhammad Azam Gilani and Rizwan-ul-Haq on February 9th at 9:30 pm.

 At that time, Sajid Ali, Asif Tanba, Zubair, Afzal, Amanullah Jat, Aziz Jat, Younis Jat, Mudassar alias Bhali, and Shahbaz alias Saji, Rehman Riaz, Haroon, Jawad Shah, Ali Sher, Malik Habib, Ahmed Gujjar, Rana Umar and 36 other suspects arrived in a rickshaw with a sound system blaring political slogans. The suspects were armed with firearms, rods and bricks.

When Irfan stopped them from trying to enter the office, they allegedly charged him, hurling death threats. Upon arriving at the office, the accused forcefully entered and allegedly said, “the office of Rana Sanaullah Khan should be completely destroyed and if anyone resists, kill them.”

The victim was threatened with firearms and other weapons, while the mob damaged furniture, glass tables, an LCD TV, computers and other valuables with sticks before fleeing the scene.

Samanabad Police registered case 266/24 against 16 nominated and 20 unidentified accused under section 452-506B-427-148-149 PPC and launched raids to arrest them.

Police sources said that the accused blared loudspeakers and danced in front of Rana Sanaullah’s office on the main road the day after the general elections. It reportedly resulted in a brawl between the accused and PML-N workers, where both parties tortured each other.

Meanwhile, a complaint alleging manipulation and result alteration has been filed against te Returning Officer of the National Assembly constituency NA-98, the assistant commissioner of Samundri.

An independent candidate for the seat, who was backed by PTI, stated in the application submitted to the Samundri city police that he had contested the election from NA-98 with the election symbol of water cooler.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 15^th 2024.