SWABI: The police on Tuesday arrested an official of the Benazir Income Support Programme for transferring Rs1.12 million from the accounts of 112 beneficiaries to his own account.

Razaar tehsil DSP Allama Iqbal said, on a tip-off, the police reached Dagai area and arrested the fraudster while taking the account details of the women in a laptop.

The police officer said the official was found telling the women that due to coronavirus pandemic the government had reduced the amount to Rs2,000.

DSP Iqbal said women were standing in a long line, adding the police discovered that the man identified as Nasir Iqbal alias Bilal from Yar Hussain village paid each woman Rs2,000 and transferred the remaining Rs10,000 to his own bank account. He said the police seized his laptop.

In the preliminary investigation, DSP Iqbal said the man confessed to having deceived 112 women and transferred Rs10,000 each to his own account.

He said the amount would be recovered from him and distributed among the poor women.

The police registered an FIR in Kalu Khan police station against him under sections 420, 406, 409, 33 of National Disaster Management Act and 188 of PPC.

SIX TRADERS ARRESTED: The police on Tuesday arrested six traders for violating the restrictions put in place to contain Covid-19.

District police officer Imran Shahid told mediapersons that the traders had opened their shops at Shewa Adda in Razaar in violation of the lockdown.

Meanwhile, the traffic police on Tuesday ticketed drivers of 180 cars and 692 motorcyclists for violating the Section 144 Also in the day, a man allegedly killed his widowed mother. The incident occurred in Naranji village of Razaar.

Parmoli police SHO Sultan Mehmood told Dawn that the suspect exchanged barbs with his mother on a trivial issue and then opened fire on her with a pistol.

A brother of the suspect, Naz Malik, got registered an FIR, stating that the cause of the incident was a domestic issue.

Meanwhile, a man driving a tractor-trolley was killed when the vehicle fell into a ditch on Tuesday.

Deceased Gul Nawas Khan belonged to Luqman Dheri village. Unidentified persons set on fire cattle in Gabasni village of Gadoon Amazai on Tuesday.

Gulbar shah, the cattle owner, said six cows and three goats were burnt to death.

Published in Dawn, April 15th, 2020