LAHORE:
A magistrate court on Monday remanded three more suspects in police custody for five days in a case involving the alleged kidnapping and rape of two foreign women.
Police on Thursday rescued two foreign women hours after receiving an emergency complaint, arrested four suspects and opened an investigation into allegations of kidnapping, ransom demands and sexual assault. Those presented today constitute the second group of suspects presented before the court in this case. On July 3, Judicial Magistrate Azhar Mahmood of Lahore had granted five-day police remand to four previously arrested suspects, identified as Raza Dar, Hassan Raza, Sajid Ali and Sikandar Khan.
During the hearing, police produced the three accused – Rizwan, Nawaz and Nasir – before the court and sought their remand for further investigation. After hearing the matter, Additional Sessions Judge Abdul Qadoos granted the request and remanded the three suspects to police custody for five days.
The police informed the court that a criminal case had already been registered against the accused and their custody was required to complete the investigation.
Separately, an additional district and sessions court granted interim pre-arrest bail to Defense Station Officer C (SHO) Faryad Ali till July 10 in a case for allegedly threatening a judicial magistrate during proceedings.
After hearing the preliminary arguments, the court restrained the police from arresting the SHO until the next hearing. The court also issued a notice to the Mustafa Abad police, seeking their response, and ordered the accused to join the investigation by appearing before the investigating officer.
According to the prosecution, the charge against SHO Faryad Ali was registered based on allegations that he visited the house of a judicial magistrate and threatened him during the process of the high-profile case involving the alleged kidnapping and rape of two foreign women.
An FIR was later lodged at the Mustafa Abad police station for alleged intimidation of the judicial magistrate.
While granting interim measures, the court made it clear that the accused must cooperate in the investigation in accordance with the law.
Read: Lahore DIG says ‘suspect linked to minister’ treated like any other criminal in foreign women case
One of the suspects is linked to an influential political figure, but Lahore Deputy Inspector General (Operations) Faisal Kamran assured a press briefing on Sunday that the suspect, believed to be linked to a senior government minister, will not be treated differently from any other criminal in the investigation.
The case
According to the Lahore DIG, the two foreign women arrived in Islamabad on June 26 before traveling to Lahore on June 29.
On Sunday, he said that around midnight on July 1, the Safe City Authority received information from a man identified as Carlos, who reported that his daughter had been kidnapped in Pakistan and that he had received a ransom demand.
“The police then launched an investigation using the affected phone numbers, vehicle registration details, travel records and footage from city security cameras, while conducting raids in Shahdara, Defence, Sargodha and other areas. The recovery of the women was our top priority,” he said.
Kamran said investigators traced the family tree of a suspect and conducted raids at various locations. “During one of these searches, residents of a house informed police that the suspect’s family previously lived there as tenants and were believed to have links to the deputy prime minister. The suspect was later identified as Mohammad Raza Dar,” he added.
He said police verified the information with the suspect’s family, obtained his phone number and began tracking him.
Learn more: 4 people arrested for sexual assault on a foreign woman
“The family would certainly have asked the suspect to surrender,” he said.
The DIG said senior police officials and the government were informed after investigators discovered the suspect’s alleged links with a senior political figure. “We have received strict instructions from the government that he should not be treated differently from other criminals,” he said.
He said investigators were also looking into the possibility that a gang, rather than a single individual, was involved in the incident.
According to the DIG, the suspect was driving the two women to the airport when an altercation broke out inside the vehicle near Bhatta Chowk.
“During the scuffle, the vehicle collided with an object, after which the women jumped out and sought shelter at a nearby filtration plant, from where police rescued them safely,” he added.
Kamran said orders from judicial magistrates were necessary before the women’s medical examination could take place.
“As the magistrate was not on duty and the women had to leave Pakistan the next morning, an officer from the police station was sent to the magistrate’s house late at night to obtain the necessary orders. I apologize for this,” he said.
Read also: Locals arrest foreigners who try to kidnap nomadic girls
The DIG said police contacted the embassies of Spain and the Netherlands after picking up the women. The Spanish embassy informed investigators that one of the women was a Venezuelan national.
After consultations with the embassies, the women agreed to undergo medical examinations and then consented to record their statements before a magistrate under article 164 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.
Kamran said the embassies had also requested that the women be repatriated at the earliest, adding that police were continuing to investigate all aspects of the case.
