The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Tuesday summoned the Investigation Officer (IO) of Sambrial Police Station in Sialkot District in a case related to the alleged kidnapping of Sambrial Press Club Chairman Rana Shahid Mahmood.
Justice Tariq Saleem Sheikh of the LHC passed the order on the plea filed by the son of the journalist who went missing from Sambrial earlier this month.
The judge directed the police to produce Mahmood before the court and adjourned the hearing till August 6, 2024. The directives came after the police failed to find Mahmood who was allegedly kidnapped from a café in Sambrial around midnight on July 1, 2024.
Rana Fraz Shahid, the son of the journalist, informed the Lahore High Court that some unknown people picked up his father from the café. He said his father was a professional journalist and a social worker and his whereabouts remain unknown.
He asked the court to direct the police to recover his father. “My father Rana Shahid Mahmood went missing a month ago but the police failed to trace him,” said Fraz Shahid.
He said his father was kidnapped in the presence of local police, as per the CCTV footage that surfaced later. The CCTV footage showed some people in police uniform at the crime scene, he added.
Tahir Sarwar, the nephew of the kidnapped journalist, had lodged the FIR 1426/24 with Sambrial Police Station under Section 365 of the Pakistan Penal Code, 1860. He said that his uncle was picked up by 20 to 25 masked men.
