Taxi stand contractor booked for extortion

JARANWALA:

A contractor and four other suspects have been booked for allegedly extorting money from a van driver.

The case was registered on the complaint of Akhtar Hussain, a junior clerk at the Jaranwala Municipal Committee, who stated that the committee had awarded a taxi stand fee contract for 2025–26 to Imranul Haq. Under the terms, the contractor or his authorised representative may collect fees in line with the official schedule.

Hussain told police that he went with Salim to inspect the taxi stand. They found a van stopped in the middle of a road with a crowd gathered around it.

The suspects had allegedly stopped the vehicle, demanding taxi stand fees from the driver.

He added that an injured man was sitting on the road in protest, claiming he had come to Jaranwala with his father for medical treatment in a private vehicle. The contractor's staff allegedly ignored his protest, forcibly collected money in the name of the municipal committee, and harassed both the driver and the injured man.

The police registered the case under Sections 419, 420, 384 and 506 of the Pakistan Penal Code and launched a search for the suspects.