Iqbalabad station house officer on Wednesday registered an FIR under Section 382 (Theft after preparation made for causing death, hurt or restraint in order to commit the theft) of the Pakistan Penal Code.
The FIR, against unidentified suspects, was lodged at the application of Iqbalabad toll plaza shift incharge Subedar (retd) Mohammad Idrees who said that protesters had vandalised the toll booths and stolen Rs100,000 from the booths after an accident near the toll plaza.
A man died and three others were injured on Tuesday in a four-car pile up near the Iqbalabad toll plaza. This was the second accident near the toll plaza. The first one happened late Monday night. Three people had been injured then.
The Tuesday accident, according to witnesses, happened at around 5:30am after the vehicle at the front had to brake suddenly because of a speed-breaker near the toll plaza.
The deceased was identified as 25-year-old Mohammad Husnain, the driver of one of the four vehicles – two oil tankers and two trailers – involved in the accident. Police said that witnesses had told them that Husnain had bled to death, after getting stuck in the tanker cabin. The injured were identified as Mohammad Aslam, Mohammad Asghar and Mohammad Imran.
Drivers of tankers and trailers who were behind the four vehicles involved in the accident started protesting after the accident, saying that there were no signs to warn them about the speed bump and toll plaza ahead. Locals also joined the two-hour protest during which the protesters broke toll cabin windows. Protesting drivers said that Rescue 1122 had arrived after two hours and that the toll plaza staff had not helped those trapped in the damaged vehicles.
The road was blocked for around four hours as a result. It was only after police teams reached and talked to the protesters that they dispersed.
The toll staff alleged that “more than 200 protesters” had also set fire to some of the booths and taken away the toll they had collected. Iqbalabad SHO Mohammad Irshad, however, told The Express Tribune that no booths had been set on fire. “Glass was broken and furniture damaged but there was no fire,” he said. According to the SHO, three men, who had been on duty at the toll plazas, were injured.
Rescue 1122 official Zahoor Ahmed denied that they had been slow in responding to the accident. “[We] reached the spot within seven minutes. Husnain was already dead when we arrived,” he said. Ahmed said that the team had cut through the tanker’s cabin to take his body out. “Three others who were pulled out were taken to the Shaikh Zayed Hospital in Rahim Yar Khan,” he said.
Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz member Asif Majeed Iqbal, who visited the accident site in the afternoon, told reporters that the responsibility of the accidents lay on the Toll Plaza administration who had not put up warning signs. He said that a report prepared by Motorways DSP had also fixed responsibility on the toll plaza.
The DSP could not be reached for his comment.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 19th, 2012.
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