‘Bad guy’: Man arrested for killing LESCO worker

LAHORE:

Police arrested a man on Monday two hours after he had murdered a Lahore Electric Supply Company (LESCO) worker and injured a company gardener and a head constable in the Sukh Canal area.

Police said Malik Asif alias Acchi, a self-proclaimed malang, had killed Mansha, a Lesco tube well operator, and injured Mian Fayyaz, the gardener, and Shafiq, the head constable, following an argument at 8am.

They said nearly 200 police officials had taken part in the operation to arrest him from his dera. He had resisted police for two hours, they said.

Cantonment SP Nadeem Khohkar told The Express Tribune that police had swung into action soon after the murder was reported. He said police would check his record because he had allegedly killed three other people in the past.

“He had allegedly killed three other people, including Mian Mushtaq, a former nazim. A court had released him saying that he was mentally unfit,” another police officer said.

A large numbers of people, including LESCO officials, staged a protest demonstration against the killing. They destroyed the gates and furniture at the dera.



They said Asif had illegally constructed the dera on Lesco premises and that he had been living there for more than a decade.

“We want authorities to retrieve the land from the land grabber,” said Muhammad Usman, a resident of the area.

A member of Lesco workers’ union blamed police for not acting against Asif immediately. He said that during the argument, Fayyaz had snatched a weapon from Asif but he went to his dera and brought another gun to kill Mansha.

“Asif has surrendered to police… they were unable to arrest him.”

Another protester said Asif was a bad guy. The protesters destroyed what they said were several fake graves at the dera. They dispersed after police assured them that action would be taken on their demands.

Lesco workers also locked the company’s local office in protest.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 14^th, 2015.