Kumara’s body flown to Sri Lanka

LAHORE/GUJRANWALA: The body of Priyantha Kumara, who was lynched in Sialkot by a mob, was flown to his homeland Sri Lanka with official protocol from the Lahore airport on Monday. Special Assistant to PM Maulana Tahir Ashrafi, honorary Sri Lankan Consul General Yasin Joya, officials of the Sri Lankan High Commission and the provincial home department were also present. Provincial Minister for Human Rights and Minorities Affairs Ijaz Alam received the body from hospital on behalf of Chief Minister Sardar Usman.

Meanwhile, a Punjab police statement said they had arrested seven more accused involved in planning, torture, instigating and attacking the Sri Lankan manager in Sialkot. So far, 131 accused have been arrested. According to police, the Punjab CM and IG are monitoring the investigation and the prosecution department secretary has been tasked by the CM with supervising the prosecution. The identification of the accused involved in torture and instigating the mob is in progress as 26 main culprits have been identified. The statement said that suspects Sikandar, Rashid, Ahmed Shehzad, Zohaib, Muhammad Irshad, Subhan and Umair Ali were part of the mob which had murdered Priyantha. Sikandar asked people to gather at the factory's rooftop and incited the attack while Shehzad was armed with a stick and Zohaib was involved in planning to provoke others for violence, the police spokesperson said, adding that the arrests had been made with the help of CCTV cameras and mobile phone data.

Meanwhile, an anti-terrorism court in Gujranwala granted 15-day physical remand of 26 suspects. Sialkot police had produced the accused before the court and sought their physical remand. The court approved 15-day physical remand of the accused identified as Muhammad Junaid, Raheel, Muhammad Talha, Taimur, Shahzeb, Farhan, Nasir, Shoaib, Ehtisham, Ahmad Shahzad, Riaz, Abdul Ghafoor, Moazam Abbas, Zubair, Abdullah, Shahzad, Rashid, Luqman, Ghulam Abbas, Manan Ali, Sikander, Shan, Bilal, Shaheryar and Husnain Ali. Strict security measures had been taken in and around the court. The court was informed that all the arrested accused were less than 25 years of age and one accused, Shoaib, was hard of hearing.

On the other hand, security personnel continued raids to arrest the accused. The court ordered the police to produce all accused by December 21.