Rickshaw stand manager paraded naked by extortionists in Layyah

SHO Thanakot Sultan police station acting on television report files case after his sub inspector refused.

LAYYAH: A rickshaw stand manager was paraded naked in district Layyah’s Jaman Shah area’s marketplace on Monday after he refused to pay extortion money to locally influential men, Express News reported late on Saturday.

Local police, under pressure from the influential extortionists too had desisted from registering an FIR against them.

According to reports, eight people came in a rickshaw and assaulted the manager, identified as Wazir Hussain, stripped him naked and then paraded him.

Nearby store owners, who tried to intervene were also attacked by the men. However, the shopkeepers were successful in apprehending two of the eight extortionists, handing them over to the Thanakot Sultan police station. The sub inspector there though refused to register a case or proceed with investigations into the assault.

According to Express News correspondent, Irshad Hussain, the men apprehended were identified as Anwar Ali and Khaak Ali. The remaining six men managed to make good their escape.

Irshad said that after the news of the incident was aired by Express News, Station House Officer (SHO) Thanakot Sultan police station, who was in a meeting elsewere reached the station immediately, and registered a FIR under Pakistan Penal Code 342 and 389 against the two men caught by the people and four other unknown assailants.

However, transmission of Express News has yet to resume in Layyah.

The correspondent added that the attackers were not inhabitants of Layyah, but had set up temporary residence. Their modus operandi involved coming to the marketplace bearing arms, terrorising people and then extorting them. Saturday's incident was after their fifth such visit.

The influence of the attackers became evident when Jaman Shah’s former Union Council Nazim Mukhtiar Hussain Shah reached the station after the men were handed over to the police and demanded their release.

The sub inspector also pressurised the rickshaw stand manager into withdrawing his case against the accused.