TOBA TEK SINGH: Faisalabad CPO Usman Akram Gondal has taken a serious notice of a police raid on a private women’s hostel in Faisalabad’s Jinnah Colony in the Gulberg police area, that occurred at 3am on Tuesday.

He suspended Gulberg police SHO Raja Ihsan and directed SSP Dr Rizwan Ahmad Khan to investigate the matter and submit a report in a day.

The hostel’s owner, a widow, filed a complaint with the police, alleging that SHO Raja Ihsan, along with another police official Babar Sindhu and six policemen entered the hostel by breaking the outer door. They arrested five resident girls who were asleep at the time. The girls were taken to the police station, where the SHO allegedly confined them to his personal room and subjected them to objectionable behaviour.

The complainant said the SHO falsely accused her of running a brothel and released the girls after obtaining their signatures on plain papers. A police spokesperson said further action would be taken after the inquiry report.

ENCOUNTER: Two robbers were killed in an alleged encounter with the Rajana police late on Tuesday near Chak 258-GB on Rajana-Samundri Road.

According to a police presser issued on Wednesday, four gunmen on two motorcycles snatched a motorcycle and valuables from Imran Ashraf of Chak 257-GB. On being alerted, the police chased the robbers. The bandits opened indiscriminate fire on the police officials, who retaliated.

When the firing ceased, two of the robbers were found injured, while the other two fled. The injured suspects were taken to the Rajana Rural Health Centre, where they succumbed to their bullet wounds. The police claimed that the robbers were shot by their own accomplices. They were identified as Muhammad Yasin and Muhammad Tariq Billa, both from Samundri, Faisalabad.

They were members of an inter-district robbers’ gang and were involved in 18 robberies in Sahiwal, Faisalabad and Toba Tek Singh districts.

RESCUE: A tense rescue operation took place when a girl with mental health challenges climbed up a mobile phone company’s 120-foot tall microwave tower in Chak 393-JB, Khanpur.

When Maliaka reached a height of about 100 feet on the tower, someone noticed and immediately informed her father, Arshad, who then called Rescue 1122 for assistance. The rescuers climbed up the tower and engaged her in conversation, working tirelessly to bring her down safely.

They managed to rescue her by securing her with belts.

Scores of people from her village and nearby areas gathered to witness the intense rescue operation and show support.

SUICIDE: A middle-aged man, identified as Zafar Abbas, from Chak 305-JB, committed suicide by jumping in front of a running train in Gojra.

According to Rescue 1122, when the Karakoram Express train (Lahore to Karachi) approached, he ran onto the tracks and was hit, resulting in instant death.

Published in Dawn, July 27th, 2023