LAHORE: A resident of Sangla Hill with sewn lips managed to escape from the custody of his alleged captors in Old Anarkali area on Thursday.

Ali Adil, 40, was spotted by some locals in semi-unconscious condition and in chains running near Neela Gumbad. They called Rescue 1122 that shifted him to Mayo Hospital. The doctors removed the stitches from his lips and he was said to be stable.

Adil in his statement told Lahore police that he was kidnapped from Sangla Hill on Dec 15 last year allegedly by Aziz, Saeed and Tanvir.

He said they detained him at different places and continued to torture him.

Adil told the police that his captors had stitched his lips with a copper wire after intoxicating him and bundled him into a car.

“After gaining a bit consciousness, I somehow managed to open the car door and run away. They shot at and injured me. It was then I realised that they had brought me to Lahore,” he added.

A video aired by different news channels showed that four masked gunmen were torturing Adil in a room.

Earlier, on Jan 3, a kidnap case was registered at Sangla Hill City police station against five suspects on the complaint of victim’s wife Rabia. Later Sangla Hill police and victim’s family reached the hospital.

Victim’s mother Parveen Bibi said after registration of the case, police did not arrest the kidnappers while adding no one in police authorities listened to her.

She said the family purchased two plots from the suspects and when she asked them to hand over possession of the land they resorted to delaying tactics. Later they kidnapped her son and tortured him, Parveen alleged.

Punjab IG Mushtaq Sukhera has taken notice of the incident and sought a report from the Nankana district police officer.

Quoting the Nankana DPO, a spokesperson for IG said raids were being conducted to arrest the suspects seen in the video torturing Adil.

Meanwhile, the chief minister has ordered early arrest of the suspects and directed that best treatment facilities be provided to the victim.

Published in Dawn, January 8th, 2016