BAHAWALPUR: A 25-year-old man sustained serious burns in a gas leak explosion at his home in Street No. 10, Deawan Bagh, in the Gulghat Colony area of Multan on Tuesday. According to Emergency Rescue Service 1122, Hammad entered his kitchen and lit a matchstick, which ignited a gas leak and triggered an explosion. The blast caused injuries to Hammad, blew off the kitchen roof and left cracks in the kitchen walls. He was shifted to hospital in a critical condition. An under-custody suspect, Muhammad Irshad alias Billah, was seriously injured in a police encounter when his own accomplices shot him near Fatimah Town, at the Multan Bakkar Mandi within the jurisdiction of Mumtazabad police station on Tuesday. According to the police PRO, Irshad was in custody on murder and attempted murder charges. He was being escorted by a police team after a recovery operation when four unidentified accomplices on motorcycles allegedly opened fire on the police in an attempt to free him. During the shootout, Billah was seriously injured and was shifted to Nishtar Hospital, Multan, for treatment. The PRO said a case has been registered against his four accomplices, who managed to escape, and efforts are underway to arrest them. Meanwhile, Muzaffarabad police registered a case against three unidentified suspects who allegedly snatched a motorcycle from a man Junaid. When the police attempted to pursue them, the suspects allegedly opened fire on the officials. In order to facilitate the students for admission to foreign universities, the department of university and career counselling of Sadiq Public school (SPS), Bahawalpur, organised the second international university fair on the SPS campus on Tuesday. According to an SPS press release, about 30 international and prestigious universities from Canada, Unites States, Australia, Germany, the UK and other countries participated and provided valuable information to the students aspiring for studying abroad and their parents. A 40-year-old woman, Hajran Bibi, who was bitten by a pet dog belonging to her neighbour Rashid Manzoor on Monday, succumbed to her wounds in Lodhran district’s Kahrorepuca locality of Munshiwala on Tuesday. On Monday, Hajran was attacked and injured by the pet dog of her neighbour Rashid Manzoor against whom her husband Imran had also got a case registered with police. The construction of the building of Bahawalpur arts council costing Rs416 million is expected to be completed within a period of next four months. This was stated by Deputy Commissioner Bahawalpur Dr.Farhan Farooque after inspection of the building here on Tuesday. Arts council director Mian Attique Ahmed told the DC that the building was in final stage. He said out of total allocation of Rs416m, the government released a sum of Rs305m from which so far Rs296m have been utilised while the remaining funds would also be released soon for its completion. The DC directed to ensure the standardisation and quality of work. According to an official handout, the DC also inspected the under-construction model agricultural mall at a cost of Rs284m. The mall will have a farmers’ training hall, shops and parking lot. It was told that the facilities like fertilisers, seeds, pesticides, agriculture machinery and other agri facilities would be available under one roof to the cultivators at the mall.