LAHORE: Police on Wednesday claimed to have arrested four suspected kidnappers involved in the nabbing and torturing of firebrand cleric Maulana Nasir Madni.
According to police sources, the arrested suspects had called Nasir Madni to Kharian where they kidnapped him for uploading videos on social media and subjected him to physical violence.
The criminals were arrested from Gujrat and brought to Lahore. They were caught after being identified using CCTV footage. Police sources have revealed that among the arrested are Ghulam Rabbani, Ali Abbas, Nazim Hussain and Asif Iqbal.
Addressing a press conference at the Lahore Press Club on Tuesday, Madni had said that he was abducted by unknown men and asked for money. He said that he was also beaten and stripped of his clothes while his abductors recorded the assault on video.
While showing his bruises to the media, the cleric said that the abductors had asked for the password for his YouTube channel and confiscated his phone.
“They then ran news on my social media that I am suffering from coronavirus,” Madni alleged.
The cleric said that unknown culprits had abducted him at gunpoint after requesting him through WhatsApp to lead prayers in Kharian area some days ago.
The report said that the abductors had also threatened the cleric against going public with the details or approaching the police.
Madni said that he was receiving threats by unknown callers a few days ago over a video message criticising a large increase in Haj expenditures, and he had lodged a complaint with police and requested security which he was still awaiting, according to the report.
Following the incident and the cleric’s press conference, CM Punjab Buzdar took notice of the matter and summoned a report from Inspector General of Police Punjab Shoaib Dastgir.
The CM Punjab asked authorities to arrest the culprits and provide justice to the cleric.
The cleric is known for his criticism of the government and its policies, with one of his videos criticizing the government for lack of adequate measures against the coronavirus spread in the country.
