In an emotional reunion, a mentally challenged former policeman, missing since 2016, was found begging by his mother at Rawalpindi's Tahli Mohri Chowk on Tuesday, Dawn reported.
Shaheen Akhtar recognised her son and, amidst emotional scenes, they were reunited after seven years.
Following the discovery, the police apprehended four members of the beggars' gang, including three women, and initiated an investigation to locate their accomplices, as reported by Dawn.
Mustakeem Khalid, the missing man, had been subjected to torture and injections during his captivity by the beggars' gang, according to his mother. Mustakeem, a former policeman suffering from a mental disorder, had disappeared in 2016 due to the effects of typhoid fever.
His mother, Shaheen Akhtar, had previously filed a missing person report with the Civil Lines police, explaining that her mentally challenged son often left home due to depression. Despite villagers usually bringing him back, Mustakeem did not return after leaving in 2016.
The reunion occurred when Shaheen Akhtar, oblivious to her son's whereabouts, spotted him begging with a gang at Tahli Mohri Chowk. The gang, comprising three women and two men, was forcing Mustakeem to beg, exploiting his disability.
Upon recognizing her son, Shaheen Akhtar embraced him, but the gang members accompanying him began assaulting and abusing her. The FIR filed stated that Mustakeem Khalid was abducted and incapacitated by the gang to beg.
A police spokesman reported the arrest of gang leader Wahid, along with three women, while efforts were underway to apprehend the remaining culprits. Wahid, the real brother of detained members Maryam and Sabina, was later arrested. Raids continued to capture the other gang members, Dawn reported.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
