An unfortunate incident took place in Karachi when a fast-moving car ran over a sleeping family killing three siblings and injuring two other family members.
The family was sleeping on a footpath near Nagan Chowrangi in the small hours of Wednesday morning when the car ran over them. However, the car driver managed to escape in injured condition, leaving behind his vehicle which was impounded by the police.
The police said that two brothers and their sister were killed in the accident, reports Dawn. Bali Gopi Chand, 22, and Ashok Gopi Chand, 9, died on the spot. Later, Shri Ram Gopi, 15, died during treatment at the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre. Sita Gopi, 14, and Lalay Gopi, 6 were injured and admitted for treatment.
“An FIR has been registered and police are working on the case,” said SSP Zeeshan Shafiq Siddiqi, adding that police will arrest the driver and whoever else was in the car. A case of manslaughter has been registered.
Area SHO Qamar Kiani said that the police had conducted raids at three places to nab the suspect but to no avail.
He also said that the case was registered on the complaint of a relative of the victims, who informed the police that he lived in the slum area of Sohrab Goth and sold vegetables on a pushcart. He was asleep in his home when at around 3 am someone informed him about the death of his relatives in a car accident.
303 mobile phones worth 85 million rupees have been recovered from a passenger coming from Sharjah to Lahore.
According to details, a passenger named Muhammad Adil arrived from Sharjah to Lahore airport and Customs Deputy Commissioner Raja Bilal Naseem checked his luggage as it seemed ‘suspicious’.
During the search, 303 valuable mobile phones worth around 85 million rupees were allegedly recovered.
According to the customs officials, the passenger had hidden the mobile phones in his bag. Customs officials arrested the accused and registered an FIR against him.
A woman in the Ghazi Tehsil of Haripur allegedly strangled her minor nephew and threw his body into a well over a property dispute. She has been arrested by the police along with two accomplices, reports Dawn.
The boy, Abdul Moeed, 8, a student of grade III, went to school on Feb 21 but didn’t return home. The family searched for the missing boy, but could not find any clue to his whereabouts, informing the police.
As per the initial investigation conducted by the police, the suspect, Abida Shaheen, was identified by the police upon investigation of her mobile phone record. She disclosed that she strangled Moeed with the help of two accomplices, Waseem and Mohammad Akhtar, and then threw his body into a well in the village.
After her confession, the police recovered the body from the well and shifted it to Ghazi Tehsil Headquarters Hospital for autopsy.
A criminal case was registered against the woman and the accomplices under sections 201, 202, and 302/34 of the Pakistan Penal Code.
The motive behind the boy’s murder was a property dispute between two brothers – the husband of the accused woman and the boy’s father – the police said.
A UC Chairman was killed as a result of firing between two groups over the issue of children in Bhitaiabad, Karachi.
The incident followed a fight among children in Bhataiabad Street No. 19, during which people from two groups fired at each other, as a result of which one person was killed and six people were injured, reports Geo News.
According to the police, the deceased person was identified as Sabir Magsi, chairman of UC-9 from Pakistan Peoples Party.
As soon as the incident was reported, a heavy contingent of police and rescue personnel reached the spot and shifted the injured to the hospital.
Counselor Shaukat Nazir told the media that the victim was a businessman and had left behind a widow and two children. “The victim was with me sometime before the incident and was killed by a bullet in the neck,” he said.
Shaukat Nazir further elaborated that the incident took place during a children’s fight. He asserted that the administration will take legal action after the burial.
The killer of seven-year-old Abaan Mazhar has been arrested in the Federal B area of Karachi and in a shocking turn of events, he is the cousin of the victim.
According to Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Central Zeeshan Siddiqui, the arrested suspect Sufyan is between 14 and 15 years old and he is the cousin of the deceased Abaan and lived with him.
The police informed Geo News that the suspect said that Abaan used to complain to his father about him, leading to the older boy getting scolded many times.
The accused killer said in his statement, “I made a mistake”.
On the day of the incident, he took Abaan to the park from a back street and killed him inside the bushes at Dhobi Ghat.
Sufyan then washed the knife and kept it in the kitchen.
The police are still investigating the matter.
In an exclusive footage obtained by Geo News, it can be seen that the cousin was taking Abaan along with him while the little boy was strolling totally at ease holding his hand.
Regarding this, SSP Central Zeeshan Siddiqui said that two teams were working on this high-profile case. The accused was put on the suspect list on the first day, but being a family member, it was difficult to arrest him immediately.
Previously, the body of a seven-year-old boy, Abaan Mazhar, was found in bushes in the Federal B Area in Karachi on Wednesday afternoon.
The boy, whose throat had been slit with a sharp instrument, was found within the limits of the Yousuf Plaza police station near the Cardio Hospital Federal B Area Block 16. Station House Officer (SHO) Shahid Rao told The News that around 3:30 pm, a call was received by Madadgar-15 about an injured boy found in bushes.
A police team rushed to the location in Federal B Area Block-16 and shifted Abaan Mazhar to Abbasi Shaheed Hospital where he succumbed to his injuries. SHO Rao said the boy was alive when he was found and when people heard him screaming, they immediately contacted the Madadgar-15 hotline.
Witnesses saw the child lying injured, trying to speak but was unable to do so. They added that they had not seen any suspect near the boy when they found him.
Abhan was a resident of Federal B Area Block 16. He was a student of second grade and the second of three brothers. According to his family, he had left home two hours ago. They maintained that the family had no enmity with anyone.
SHO Rao said they had talked to Mazhar, the aggrieved father, who said his son studied in a private school in the area and as he worked in a private firm, he had hired a private person to pick up and drop his son from school.
The father also said that as per the daily routine, Abaan had returned from school at 2 pm but after a few minutes, someone knocked on the door of his residence and the boy again left the house. It was at around 3:30 pm, the family received the information about the boy’s death. The father told the police that he had no enmity with anyone and he did not know who had killed his son.
The post-mortem report revealed that the throat of the minor boy was slit with a sharp weapon, while no evidence of abuse was found, reports ARY News.
Samanabad DSP Asghar Mehdi told the media that the child died on his way to the hospital. He added that a woman living in a nearby flat first saw the child and shouted for help.
The police has been making efforts to obtain CCTV footage. A case has been registered and investigations are underway.
The head of a household in Chakwal, suffering from financial problems, committed suicide after killing his wife and children.
According to the police, Shafqat Saleem committed suicide after killing all four of his children and his wife in Muzdalifah Town area in Chakwal city. Police say that Shafqat Saleem shot himself after calling the police on the 15 helpline. His other victims were two daughters aged 14 and 16 years, and two sons aged 13 and 17 years.
According to the preliminary investigation as reported by Geo, the victim had financial problems that he could not cope with.
A kidnapped 22-year-old MPhil graduate, Talha Arshad, was found fatally shot in the head, despite his family allegedly having paid Rs2.5 million in ransom to his abductors. His grieving family staged a protest demonstration at Rafiq Shah Chowk against the police after placing the body on the spot.
The victim, a resident of Mohalla Telianwala, had recently completed his MPhil from the University of Agriculture, Faisalabad. On the day he went missing he left home on a motorcycle on January 17 but did not return.
Upon a lawyer’s intervention, the police registered a kidnapping case on January 18, filed by Talha’s brother Irfan Arshad.
The abductors had sent a video of Talha tied with a rope, through WhatsApp on January 21, demanding a ransom of Rs10 million for his release. Despite the family sending Rs2.5 million to the cryptocurrency account specified by the kidnappers, Talha was not released, reports The Express Tribune.
However, on Wednesday, Talha’s tortured body, locked in a suitcase, was discovered in a well near an upscale neighborhood.
Kamran Arshad, the victim’s brother, alleged that the police had acted as silent spectators when the victim’s phone was active on January 21 and 23. The police reportedly found the location of the deceased’s mobile phone in Bahawalnagar and Donga Bonga, initiating searches in the areas. The DPO’s spokesperson Zahid Rasool said the police were actively engaged in the matter, collaborating with the victim’s family.
In response to protesters’ demands, the SHO was removed from the local police station and an inquiry against him initiated.
The police’s efforts to trace the suspects were reportedly hindered as the perpetrators used VPN to conceal their location.
Update: The DPO in Sadiqabad issued an order for departmental action while suspending the ASI for misbehaving with a foreign cyclist.
Explaining the incident, DPO Rahim Yar Khan Rizwan Omar Gondal said that 3 foreign cyclists entered Sadiqabad from Rahim Yar Khan limits from Sindh on Saturday and they were provided security as per SOP.
The cyclists were adamant that no security should be provided to them, upon which the fight took place, says the DPO.
According to the police spokesperson, the foreign cyclist sprayed the ASI in anger, on which the ASI slapped the foreign tourist.
Moreover, departmental action is being taken against the concerned police official by suspending him for inappropriate behavior.
Previously, it was reported three foreign tourists cycling in the Sadiqabad area of South Punjab have raised serious allegations of assault and sexual harassment against the Punjab police. They claim to have entered their jurisdictions on January 25.
A video of the attack on the tourists surfaced on Saturday where a policeman was seen using foul language and snatching the camera from the one documenting it. It was one of many alleged assaults that the cycling tourists, namely Alex Sidney of Italy, Charlie West of the UK, and Motahhareh Abbasi of Iran, had been facing since they entered Punjab. They have always been having a Punjab police escort supposed to ensure their security but the police allegedly attacked them.
Dawn talked to the tourists and the details narrated by them included horrific details of abuse and being manhandled brutally by a policeman, earlier identified as ASI Liaqat. Alex said the situation escalated as the officers reportedly grabbed him by the hair and subjected him to physical abuse.
Regarding the version of police, the tourists were stopped from going to Kashmore, Sindh, an unsafe area, when the confrontation happened. However, Alex said they were not going towards Kashmore but Lahore. He said they had cycled in Sindh, mostly escorted by police, but did not face any such incident there. In Punjab, he claimed, they had taken the same route as was told by police. According to him, it was not the first assault by police. “We entered Punjab on January 25 and started having assaults and harassment from January 26. In earlier assaults, we were hit by police vehicles and motorcycles as they continued telling us that we were going the wrong way. We told them that we were going to a hotel on the national highway. They would try to knock us down.” Motahhareh said the policemen in Punjab would drive their vehicles or ride motorcycles very close to her, sometimes making her get off the road. “On January 26, I fell down and got injured when a policeman stopped his motorcycle suddenly in front of her. And it was quite deliberate. I fell down and injured my leg while my heavy bags fell on me.” Motahhareh later got medical treatment for her leg.
About this alleged assault, Alex said they went to Ahmedpur Lamma Police Station and asked the policeman on the desk to register a complaint, but he refused to do so, asking them to take help from social media.
Motahhareh also raised serious allegations of sexual harassment against police in Pakistan. “Many times, they asked me for my WhatsApp number and kept on insisting. When I asked them the reason, they would start insulting me. At the start I gave my phone number to some of them and they started asking for pictures and sending creepy messages. For the last one month, I have been receiving creepy messages from Pakistani policemen.” She alleged that policemen from all three provinces they travelled in harassed her and the situation was worse in Punjab.
A policeman in Punjab held her hand forcibly for many minutes, said Alex. When asked whether there was a language barrier between the policemen and the tourists, Alex said some of the policemen spoke good English. “Whenever we stopped at some point to have a break, they would continue telling us it’s not safe here and it would be safe after a few kilometers. In fact, they wanted us to go out of their jurisdictions quickly but the next escort would do the same, telling us lies about the route as well.”
Alex said they felt safer without police as the common Pakistanis were very good and hospitable towards them and added that many times in Sindh, they did not have police escort and it was very safe.
Alex said they were staying in Sadiqabad near the site where they were assaulted by police as Motahhareh’s leg was recovering, rejecting the earlier police report that they had left the area for Lahore. He said he wanted to cycle through Punjab and meet the people who are very good. He said they felt safe when they were on their own without police and were in fact more in danger in presence of their escort, which ironically was there to protect them. Charlie West wanted to cycle separately towards Lahore as he rides it fast but the situation is unclear now.
Police in Rahim Yar Khan and Sadiqabad have not provided their official version. However, Dawn’s sources in Rahim Yar Khan police said the tourists had left Sadiqabad hotel they were staying in on Saturday and now they were staying at a restaurant along a filling station in the middle of Sadiqabad and Rahim Yar Khan. The sources denied the allegations of assault but insisted that police escort was there for the tourists’ security.
Alex started his travel on bicycle from Italy in 2022 and cycled through Europe during the last two years. He was joined by Mohtahhare in Tehran when he was travelling towards Pakistan. They entered Pakistan from the Balochistan-Iran border and cycled through Balochistan and Sindh. In Karachi, they were joined by Charlie West who landed in Karachi from the UK.
