SARGODHA, May 24: Sargodha Range DIG Fayaz Ahmed Mir on Monday claimed that out of the 46 nominated accused of the Utra village incident, 20 were arrested. The DIG said that 26 other men of the accused party were also rounded up as a preventive measure.

He said that only 35 accused were nominated on the first day, but later on the complainant party in their supplementary statements had nominated 11 more accused. He hoped that the main accused, Chiragh Zaildar Utra, would soon be arrested along with other nominated as well as unknown assailants.

As per desire of the chief minister and IGP, he said the challan against the accused would be presented within a month in the Anti-Terrorism Court. He said that Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Jamali through his representative had also expressed the similar sentiments and directed to take to task the accused involved in such a brutal act.

The DIG said that the Khushab police were not only conducting raids on the hideouts of the accused but were also providing protection to the lives and property of the complainant party. He further said that he had directed the Khushab police to make the investigation in accordance with the law leaving no lacuna for the accused party.

The DIG said that two maternal nephews of the principal accused, Hafeezullah and Habibullah and the son of his brother, Khuda Baksh, were in police custody. Besides, 17 other accused - Fazal Ahmed, Usman, Abdul Rehman, Zaman, Sadiq, Afzal, Muhammad Yar, Shahi Beg, Muhammad Sher, Alam Sher, Gul Sher, Sultan Ali, Ghulam Hussain, Alam Khan, Waris, Ahmed Sher and Ahmed Khan were also in police custody, he said.