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An enraged mob stoned to death a middle-aged man for allegedly desecrating the Quran in a remote village in eastern Pakistan, police said Sunday.

The custodian of a local mosque said he saw the man burning the Muslim holy book inside the mosque Saturday evening and told others before informing police, according to police spokesman Chaudhry Imran. The violence took place in a village in the district of Khanewal in Punjab province.

Imran said police rushed to the scene, where a man was found surrounded by an angry crowd. Officer Mohammad Iqbal and two subordinates tried to take custody of the man but the group began throwing stones at them, seriously injuring Iqbal and slightly injuring the other two officers.

Munawar Gujjar, chief of Tulamba police station, said he rushed reinforcements to the mosque but they did not arrive before the mob had stoned to death the man and hung his body from a tree.

Gujjar said the victim was identified as Mushtaq Ahmed, 41, of a nearby village.

"The ill-fated man has been mentally unstable for the last 15 years and according to his family often went missing from home for days begging and eating whatever he could find," he said. He said the body was handed over to the family.

Mian Mohammad Ramzan, the mosque custodian, said he saw smoke inside the mosque, which is adjacent to his home, and rushed over to investigate. He found one Quran burned and saw a man attempting to burn another. He said people were starting to arrive for evening prayers as he was shouting for the man to stop.

Witnesses said a police team that reached the village before the stoning began took custody of a man but the mob snatched him away from them and beat the police as they tried to rescue him.

Later, more officers and constables reached the scene and took custody of the body, they said.

Gujjar, the area police chief, said investigators were scanning available videos to try to identify the assailants. He said police had so far detained about 80 men living in the mosque's surroundings but that about 300 suspects took part.

Prime Minister Imran Khan expressed his anguish over the incident and said he was seeking a report from Punjab's chief minister on the police handling of the case. He said they "failed in their duty."

"We have zero tolerance for anyone taking the law into their own hands and mob lynching will be dealt with with the full severity of the law," he said in a tweet hours after the incident.

Khan also asked the Punjab police chief for a report on the actions taken against perpetrators of the lynching.

The killing comes months after the lynching of a Sri Lankan manager of a sporting goods factory in Sialkot in Punjab province on Dec. 3 who was accused by workers of blasphemy.

Mob attacks on people accused of blasphemy are common in this conservative Islamic nation. International and national rights groups say blasphemy accusations have often been used to intimidate religious minorities and settle personal scores. Blasphemy is punishable by death in Pakistan.

CPN (Maoist Centre) Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal said that the ruling coalition parties registered the impeachment motion against Chief Justice Cholendra Shumsher JB Rana at the Parliament Secretariat to end the deadlock of the Supreme Court.

He said so while talking to journalists at a programme organised in Janakpur on Sunday.

“There were problems in the judiciary. Chief Justice Cholendra Shumsher JB Rana was responsible for all the problems. The ruling coalition parties filed the impeachment motion to end the impasse,” he said.

As many as 98 lawmakers of the Nepali Congress, CPN (Maoist Centre) and CPN (Unified Socialist) filed the motion against the Chief Justice this afternoon.

In another context, he said that some elements who are against the 12-point agreement and peace process are hatching a conspiracy to break the ruling coalition.

He was of the opinion that the people should stage demonstrations against those elements.

Nepali Congress leader NP Saud said that the party will forge national consensus to garner two-thirds majority for passing the impeachment motion filed against Cholendra Shumsher JB Rana.

Talking to journalists during a meeting of the Executive Committee held at the party office in Sanepa on Sunday, leader Saud said that the party will hold discussions with the main opposition CPN-UML among other parties to forge consensus.

“Judiciary was not running smoothly. The Nepal Bar Association has been staging demonstrations for the past four months demanding resignation of Chief Justice Cholendra Shumsher JB Rana. The parties registered the impeachment motion to unseat the Chief Justice after he did not pave the way out to bring reforms in the judiciary,” he said.

“There is no reason for the parties to be worried by the vitality of the Chief Justice. We have decided to file the impeachment motion against Chief Justice Rana to resolve the problems of the court,” he added.

Nepal logged 521 new Covid-19 cases and 10 deaths on Sunday.

According to the Ministry of Health and Population, 6,036 swab samples were tested in the RT-PCR method, of which 421 returned positive. Likewise, 4,078 people underwent antigen tests, of which 94 tested positive.

The Ministry said that 3, 935infected people recovered from the disease in the last 24 hours.

As of today, there are 22, 584 active cases in the country.

The Nepal Stock Exchange (NEPSE) plunged by 100.67 points to close at 2,700.89 points on Sunday, the first day of the trading week.

 Similarly, the sensitive dropped by 15.62 points to close at 511.66 points.

A total of 11,661,639 units of the shares of 227 companies were traded for Rs 5.97 billion.

Meanwhile, NIBL Samriddhi Fund-2 was the top gainer today with its price surging by 1.94 percent. Likewise, Upper Tamakoshi Hydropower Limited was the top loser with its price dropped by 8.37 percent.

At the end of the day, the total market capitalisation stood at Rs 3.81 trillion.

Police have apprehended a Chinese national in possession of around 5 kg gold from the Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA).

SSP Bhim Prasad Dhakal, security chief at the TIA, said that they confiscated 4.84 kg gold from the possession of Jhang Li (36). He had arrived in Nepal from Dubai via Himalayan Airlines.

“A Chinese national was arrested with 4.84 kg gold from the Tribhuvan International Airport. He was arrested with the yellow metal during the security check,” he said.

SSP Dhakal said that the Chinese national was arrested with the gold concealed in the false bottom of the belt he was wearing.

He said that the market price of the confiscated gold is around Rs 39 million.

Nepal Bar Association (NBA) welcomed the decision of the parties to file an impeachment motion against Chief Justice Cholendra Shumsher JB Rana.

General Secretary of the NBA Lilamani Paudel welcomed the decision of the ruling parties to file the motion against Chief Justice Rana.

“This is a welcome move of the parties to file the motion against CJ Rana. I would like to thank all the lawmakers for the same. Now, we will change the mode of protests,” he said.

He, however, said they will continue the campaign to end political interference in the judiciary.

The NBA has been staging demonstrations for the past four months demanding resignation of Chief Justice Rana.

The NBA has also demanded investigation into the property of Rana.

As many as 98 lawmakes from the ruling parties filed the impeachment motion against Chief Justice Rana this afternoon.

Speaker Agni Prasad Sapkota has called an all-party meeting for Monday.

Speaker’s press advisor Shreedhar Neupane said that Sapkota called the all-party meeting to discuss contemporary political issues and an impeachment motion filed against Chief Justice Cholendra Shumsher JB Rana.

As many as 98 lawmakers from the ruling parties—Nepali Congress, CPN (Maoist Centre) and CPN (Unified Socialist) filed the impeachment motion against Chief Justice Rana this afternoon.