15-year-old orphaned apprentice crushed to death by employer in Pakistan

A 15-year-old orphaned laborer was pursued and crushed to death by his employer's car in Multan after attempting to flee severe workplace abuse, police and relatives confirmed on Tuesday, October 20, 2026, leading to the arrest of the contractor on premeditated murder charges.

How did the fatal vehicular pursuit unfold in Multan's Royal Orchard?

The tragedy occurred in the Royal Orchard housing community in Multan, where 15-year-old Waseem Abbas had been working on a construction site. According to the police First Information Report (FIR) and eyewitness accounts, Abbas fled the premises following continuous physical mistreatment and grueling working conditions.

Witnesses reported seeing the teenager running through the streets shouting for help and crying out to neighborhood residents that his employer was trying to kill him. Investigators said the contractor, identified as Tauqeer Nazir, initially pursued Abbas on foot alongside an associate before getting behind the wheel of his car to hunt the boy down. The speeding vehicle struck the teenager from behind, hurling his body into the heavy iron gate of an adjacent home. Abbas died on the spot from catastrophic blunt force injuries.

What do police inquiries, CCTV evidence, and the victim's family reveal?

Police units dispatched to the area arrested Nazir at the scene and impounded the vehicle. A formal murder case was registered against Nazir and his unidentified accomplice. In his preliminary statement to investigators, Nazir claimed that the teenager had abandoned the job site without authorization and alleged that the vehicle slipped accidentally while he was merely attempting to block the boy's exit.

However, police investigators confirmed that physical brake marks, witness testimonies, and closed-circuit television (CCTV) footage from surrounding homes directly contradicted Nazir's claims, confirming deliberate pursuit and collision. The incident is being prosecuted as a premeditated vehicular homicide.

Abbas, originally from the neighboring Muzaffargarh district, was an orphan who had been living in a local welfare home and religious seminary. Administrators had arranged an electrical apprenticeship with Nazir to help the teenager acquire vocational skills. Abbas’s maternal grandfather, who had enrolled the boy in the program in hopes of securing a self-sufficient livelihood, demanded exemplary punishment for those responsible, recounting that Abbas had grown desperate to leave due to repeated abuse.

Authorities transferred the victim's body to his relatives for burial in Muzaffargarh following a mandatory post-mortem examination at Nishtar Hospital, as police prepare to present the accused before an area magistrate for physical remand.