Police save theft suspects from being burnt alive by villagers

Doctors say it will take the men six months to recover from the beating.

MULTAN:

Two suspected thieves were about to be burnt alive by residents of Jalalpur Khaki village on Friday night when police took them into custody.

The two men had been tied with ropes and drenched in kerosene oil and several residents of the villege were piling wood to start a fire.

Vilagers said Four men had entered the house of Muhammad Asim in the Jalalpur Khaki village in the Shujaabad subdistrict to rob the family. Asim’s brother Sohail raised an alarm and several residents of the village who surrounded Asim’s house.

Nazar Hussain, one of the villages, told The Express Tribune that they managed to catch two of them.

Saddar SHO Rao Saleem said the men had been badly beaten and had been tied to a pile of firewood when police arrived.

He said the men were identified as Khadim Bastani and Riaz Bastani. He said they were wanted for as many as 10 theft and motorcycle snatching incidents.

“Had we arrived five more minutes later, we would have found their burnt bodies,” SHO Saleem said. He said two police officers were injured when some of the villagers attacked them.

The two men were taken to the Shujabad THQ hospital for treatment.

Shujabad THQ hospital Medical Superindentent Shabbeer Qaiserani told The Express Tribune that the men were not out of danger yet. “They have suffered 32 fractures… more than 20 in the legs…it will take them at least six months to recover,” he said.

Four villagers were also injured in the clash.

Saddar police have registered an FIR against the four men and set up pickets to arrest the two escaped gang members.

SHO Saleem said police hoped to arrest the remaining gang members within 48 hours.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 4^th, 2012.