Rawalpindi - The husband of a woman councillor of ruling  Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz was axed to death when he tried to stop three persons from cutting a poplar tree from his land in Haryal village in Mandra, informed police on Saturday.

The deceased was identified as Chaudhry Qurban, 55, the spouse of Mehfood Bibi, PML-N woman councillor Union Council Jhangi Jalal, they said. The three killers identified as Qurban Shah, Rizwan and Naheem managed to escape the scene while police has registered case against them and begun investigation.

According to police, a man named Meharban Hussain along with his sons lodged a complaint with Police Station Mandra that his brother Chaudhry Qurban Hussain heard news that three men were cutting the poplar tree from their land located at Haryal Village and rushed to the area. The complainant told that the three persons were chopping tree with axes when they barred them from doing so.

“Qurban Hussain moved forward to bar Nahim from axing the tree while two others Qurban Shah and Rizwan overwhelmed him,” he told. He added that Nahim hit the axe on Qurban’s head as a result of which he sustained critical injury. The attackers managed to flee the scene whereas he and his sons started moving the injured to hospital. However, the injured died in the way to hospital, he told police. The complainant requested police to register murder case against the accused.

Station House Officer (SHO) PS Mandra Sardar Zulfiqar, when contacted, said it was yet to ascertain by doctors how the man had died.

He told that the deceased was heart patient with a stent fixed by the doctors. “During initial medical conducted by doctors, a small injury was found upside the right eye of Qurban,” he said. He added that the reason behind death would only be ascertained by a medico legal report.