LAHORE – The Lahore High Court on Thursday directed a deputy superintendent of police to produce missing journalist Rana Shahid Mahmood.
The court passed the order on a plea moved by Rana Fraz Shahid, the son of the missing journalist.
As the hearing commenced, the police submitted report of District Police Officer (DPO), Sialkot, regarding the case. The court made the report part of the record and directed the DSP to recover and produce Rana Shahid Mahmood.
The court adjourned further hearing till August 28.
Rana Shahid Mahmood was the chairman of Sambrial Press Club.
Previously, the court had directed the police to produce Rana Shahid Mahmood before the court and had adjourned further hearing until August 6, 2024.
Earlier in the day, the police told the court that they could not trace Rana Shahid Mahmood so far. They said that they were conducting geo-fencing, and the forensic report on the CCTV footage is also awaited.
The petitioner said his father, being a journalist, reported against the drug dealers.
“The CCTV footage we have provided to the police will help in investigation,” said the petitioner.
He asked the court to order the police to recover his father.
Rana Shahid Mahmood was kidnapped at midnight on July 1, 2024 from a local café in Sambrial.
Rana Fraz Shahid, his son, approached the Lahore High Court.
He said that some unknown people picked up his father from a local café. He said his father is a professional journalist and a social worker. The unknown men, he said, shifted him to some unknown place after kidnapping him.
“My father Rana Shahid Mahmood went missing a month ago but the police could not trace him so far,” said Fraz Shahid.
Surprisingly, he said, his father was kidnapped in presence of the local police as per the CCTV footage that surfaced at the later stage. The individuals wearing police uniforms were also present there, he added.
He said that they had been running from pillar to post for his safe recovery but could not find any clue so far.
Tahir Sarwar, the nephew of the kidnapped journalist, had lodged the FIR 1426/24 with Sambrial police station under Section 365 of Pakistan Penal Code 1860.
He told the police that his uncle, who is a known journalist in the local area and the chairman of Sambrial Press Club, was picked up by 20 to 25 unknown people who were wearing the masks at the time of the kidnapping.
He said that Rana Shahid Mahmood was picked up from a local café in Sambrial on midnight July 1, 2024.
The unknown persons reached there on five five pickup trucks [vigo dalas], Kia Sportage and a Honda Civic car. The complainant said that they picked the journalist at gun-point and took him away to some unknown location. The kidnappers, he said, also took away the CDR of the CCTV installed there at the café.
