News Desk |
A pir — faith healer — and his accomplices beat a man to death for entering a designated women’s area at his Astana [establishment] located in Patriata, the authorities said.
The police said that the suspects, including Pir Azmat Shah, his son, and his guards, assaulted the man, Waqas Ali, once he stepped into the area designated for women at the faith healer’s verandah.
The police said that the torture was so severe that the man, who was a resident of Kotli Sattian, died on the spot. The pir and his accomplices didn’t stop there, the police said, adding that the pir’s associates and followers drove the dead body in the car around the city before disposing of it at the district headquarters (DHQ) hospital.
Rawalpindi police chief Faisal Rana took notice of the incident and ordered for a case to be registered against the culprits. Police officials confirmed that all of the accused persons, excluding Shah, were arrested after registering a first information report (FIR) of the incident.
The police had said that Zahoor Shah posed as a ‘faith healer’ and he was residing in Sikandarabad Basti for the last four years.
The victim’s father Zulfiqar Ali said that Shah and five other accomplices thrashed his son for entering the ladies section. Following the incident, the deceased’s family had placed the body on a road in Jhika Gali Bazaar and staged a protest there, demanding the arrest of the pir.
Fake Faith Healers and Women
The issue of fake faith healers is pervasive in Punjab. On February 22, the police had arrested a man posing as pir in Multan and recovered a woman from his custody.
The police had said that Zahoor Shah posed as a ‘faith healer’ and he was residing in Sikandarabad Basti for the last four years. The police added that people from far-flung areas used to visit his place for the solution to their problems.
The official had highlighted that the culprit had allegedly sexually harassed several women in the past. The story had emerged after a woman identified as Maria, who was kept in illegal detention for the past four months by the suspect, had managed to escape from his house and took shelter in a mosque.
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When she called the police on the helpline and revealed that the fake faith healer had detained another woman, identified as Asma, for the past several months, the police had raided the suspect’s house and recovered the girl. Police also arrested Zahoor and put him behind bars.