Court grants four-day remand of Bhati Gate incident accused

LAHORE: A local court granted four days’ physical remand of five accused to police in Bhati Gate manhole incident in which a woman and her nine-month-old daughter lost their lives.

Police produced the accused before judicial magistrate Shafqat Abbas in local court, which granted four days physical remand of the accused to police.

The accused included Project Manager Asghar Sandhu, safety in-charge Hunzala, site in-charge Ahmad Nawaz and two brothers Salman and Usman working for a private company.

The police requested for 14 days physical remand of the accused to inquire into the incident and to gather substantial evidence by questioning the accused responsible for the negligence.

The defence lawyer opposed the physical remand request and said that it was an extremely regretful incident and the accused have given a cheque of Rs 10 million to the aggrieved family as compensation.

The court after hearing arguments of the lawyers granted four days physical remand of the accused.

An inquiry committee formed by the Punjab Inspector General of Police (IGP) earlier completed its investigation into torture allegations of Ghulam Murtaza following the Bhati Gate incident in Lahore, in which his wife and nine-month-old daughter lost their lives after falling into an open manhole.

According to the inquiry report, three police officers — the SP City, the SDPO, and the concerned SHO — were found responsible for negligence. The committee stated that Ghulam Murtaza, the husband of the Bhati Gate victim, was subjected to torture inside the SHO’s retiring room, allegedly in the presence of the SP.

The inquiry committee was constituted to probe allegations of custodial torture after the victim’s husband was taken into custody following the incident. The panel was headed by AIG CIA Imran Mahmood, with DIG Ahmed Nasir Aziz and DIG Imran Kishore as members.

A woman and her nine-month-old daughter lost their lives after falling into an open sewage drain near Bhati Gate on January 28, 2026. The child’s body was recovered approximately 17 hours later, nearly eight kilometres from the site, while the mother’s body was recovered around six hours after the incident.

Initially, the rescue teams and other officials termed the incident fake. Despite repeated pleas from the victim’s family, the district administration denied the incident, but the position changed after the mother’s body was recovered.