Police had been looking for him for four weeks. PHOTO: FILE
After four weeks of looking for the murderer of a man killed in February, police have managed to arrest him from Lahore, City Police Officer Dr Haider Ashraf told media on Friday.
Dr Ashraf said Muhammad Saleem, a resident of Chak 58-GB, had three blind children. He was at his shop in Anarkali Bazaar, Jaranwala, on February 12, 2014, when a rival, Muhammad Afzal, shot him several times to avenge an old rivalry.
Saleem was severely injured as a result and was taken to a hospital where he passed away after a week.
The CPO said that Saleem’s children staged a demonstration protesting the delay in the arrest of their father’s murderer.
Jawad Ahmad, one of his children, told media that their mother was elderly and could not take care of the three children. He said Afzal’s relatives were threatening to kill them all if they did not withdraw the case.
On March 6, the protesters visited the city police officer at his office and requested him to expedite the matter.
Dr Ashraf said that he took serious notice of the incident and constituted a team headed by Jaranwala Superintendent Ejaz Shafi Dogar and SHO Ubaidur Rehman to arrest Afzal. He said the team conducted several raids and looked for the man but in vain. The CPO said that he even issued show cause notices to the team over “their poor performance”.
He said they finally managed to arrest Afzal who had fled the area and was hiding in Lahore.
Dr Ashraf said Afzal was behind bars and investigation was underway.
He said the Jaranwala SP had been directed to personally monitor the case and submit a challan in court at the earliest.
Another arrest
Mureedwala police have also arrested a resident of Chak 199-GB who had allegedly murdered his father, the city police officer told media persons on Friday.
He said Akhtar Hussain was apparently a mentally deranged person, a few weeks ago, he got into a squabble with his father and hit him on the head with a sharp kassi (azada). He said Hussain had been sent for a medical examination and further action will be taken on its receipt.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 12th, 2014.
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